• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 16, 2012

Planned or not, Keith Olbermann’s petulance has given him a chance at relevance in the GOP campaign over the next few weeks that tops Rick Perry. That’s not saying much since Perry should be on the sidelines by next Monday, but Olbermann has a shot at bringing his choleric liberalism out from virtual obscurity.

In such a short time, two of the more polarizing voices in American political commentary – heroes to their respective minions – have lost primacy. Off Fox News, Glenn Beck has been trying to make his Internet network part of the mainstream media, but he seems about as top-of-mind as The Nation.

Olbermann, too, seems to have plunged in the influence strata after bringing his “Countdown” to Current TV with much fanfare last year. From Current’s perspective, the move never seemed to make much sense. In fact, it smacked of desperation.

If the goal in cable programming – the ubiquity of reality TV belies this – is to carve out an identity, then why would Current attempt to establish itself as a liberal fort? MSNBC had staked out that redoubt, and how large is the passionate left-wing audience anyway (the would-be anti-Rush Limbaugh Air America failed)?

(Actually, a network that goes to the right of Fox News might have a better chance of succeeding than another liberal gambit.)

For Current to bet much of its network’s success on Olbermann bringing much of his devoted MSNBC audience with him seemed risky and a questionable strategy. Yes, Al Gore and Current compatriots had landed a big name in Olbermann -- who was MSNBC’s original spiritual guide -- but if he failed in that, then what was the network to do?

That conundrum has pretty much resulted. In September, the New York Daily News reported “Countdown” ratings were less than half what they were in Olbermann’s June debut week on Current.

And if Current didn’t have enough to deal with, maybe the last person who would lay low and be content to collect a huge salary is the exceedingly egocentric, vainglorious, narcissistic Olbermann.

The only thing Olbermann likes less than Republicans is irrelevance. So, he chose a critical point -- a time when he might actually get a viewing spike –- to go on strike.

He landed in a very public dispute with Current executives about hosting election-night coverage, and missed the nights of the Iowa and New Hampshire results.

Olbermann would of course dispute suggestions he engaged in an unwarranted walkout. He told the Hollywood Reporter that Current did not provide him with “a legitimate opportunity to host under acceptable conditions. They know it and we know it.” One theory is Olbermann has been frustrated by technical difficulties at Current.

In any case, Olbermann and Current management now look to be back in synch. In tweets last week, Olbermann said the dispute has been settled and he’ll be back leading election coverage, which presumably will include as the returns come in from South Carolina’s GOP primary Saturday.

He said wryly, “Not sure GOP will share my satisfaction."

There is the possibility Olbermann’s standoff with management, which generated New York Times and other significant coverage, may prove beneficial. He got back on the news pages and in the process probably accomplished more than an ad campaign could have in letting liberals know that as they have been digesting “vulture capitalism,” Freddie Mac consulting deals and Perry’s “oops,” Olbermann has plenty of fury to offer.

Olbermann may have been smarter to stay on the air during the Iowa and New Hampshire events and then pull a Dan Rather and walk off the set this week. Do so with some barbs at Current brass. Then, he could engineeer a settlement Friday morning, just as viewers plan how to ingest South Carolina results the day after.

It was comical Friday that even after Olbermann tweeted he would be back, Broadcasting & Cable reported Current President David Bohrman said: "Keith has told us he will do our special election coverage going forward, that is what we want him to do, that's one of the key reasons he was brought to Current. So I expect that you will see Keith moving forward leading our election coverage which we desperately want him to do."

Will he be doing that come November when the results matter much more?