Keith Olbermann, the host of “Countdown” on MSNBC, said: “There’s no question that it’s going to change. Of course we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. I think you could say I’m going to take a different position on the diamond, but it’s the same approach. It’s an interesting switch of poles but by no means a switch of roles.”

Mr. Olbermann noted that “Fox News and Rush Limbaugh rose during the Clinton years,” whereas he and his fellow MSNBC host Rachel Maddow “rose during the Bush Administration.”

“But after the Bush inauguration,” he added, “Fox and Limbaugh didn’t go off the air. If you’re any good at all, you should be able to react to a changed landscape.”