Like many recovering addicts fresh from rehab, he was bursting with new personal insights. His vaunted confrontational vocabulary had taken on an unexpected dimension -- self-empowerment references and the occasional reminder that you cannot feel responsible for other people's happiness.

Only this time the recovering addict was a rich and famous 52-year-old man sitting inside a Manhattan radio studio, speaking to millions of people.

Rush Limbaugh, who has become a cultural and political force as America's most popular radio host, returned to the air Monday after five weeks in an unnamed Arizona rehabilitation facility where he was treated for an addiction to the painkiller OxyContin.

[continues 1162 words]