{"id":18558,"date":"2011-03-17T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-07-20T00:22:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:22:00","slug":"explaining_obama_s_inaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/03\/17\/explaining_obama_s_inaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining Obama\u2019s Inaction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RUSH: Santo in Coral Springs, Florida. Nice to have you on the program. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Rush. I\u2019m really glad to finally be able to speak with you.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Thank you. And I wanted to get to my point. You know, I ponder and I view and I see what an awful job Barack Obama is doing, really what an empty suit he is.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What did you say, an empty what?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Empty suit.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank goodness. Okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) And you look around the world, you see all these different issues going on in the world, and if you individualize them and look at \u2019em separately, I know how George Bush would have handled most of these issues, but I go back even to Bill Clinton, and I say, well, you know, as much as I disliked and disagreed with most of what he did, you\u2019d have to think we\u2019d be in a much better place if we had someone even like Bill Clinton running the country.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Why this comparison? Why are you comparing Obama to Clinton? There\u2019s no wrong answer here. This is just the host being curious. Why not compare Obama to one of the Republican presidential nominees?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, there would be no comparison. The Republican nominees that I\u2019m aware of are pretty concise and they would really know —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So your point is that even a Democrat, even a socialist Democrat like Hillary would be better off than this guy when it comes to foreign policy because she\u2019s more serious about it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Foreign policy, domestic policy, I see the mood — I\u2019m a middle class American and I see the mood in the country, and the folks I meet with on a daily basis, I\u2019m in sales —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — are down, and we feel like we\u2019re defeated. I know there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel, I believe in the American dream if you keep pushing forward, but this guy seems at every corner to pull that from us.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, not only that, I think really it isn\u2019t complicated. It\u2019s just tough to believe. The reason you and everybody else are having trouble, even the Clintons, Mrs. Clinton, are having trouble understanding the lack of decision say on Libya or anything else, the root of it is the view of this country that Obama holds. If he is a guy who does not believe in American exceptionalism, if he is a guy who thinks it\u2019s been his duty to run around the world and apologize for the United States, if he believes that the United States has achieved its superpower position illegitimately, then where\u2019s the logical connection? Why would we expect him to think at all in terms of the United States as a solution to the world\u2019s problems? We got a guy who thinks the United States has been the problem. Okay, so here\u2019s Libya. He doesn\u2019t even seem to care much less do anything about it, and people chalk it up to traditional explanations. “Well, he\u2019s looking at polling data, can\u2019t go in there because he criticized Bush, would look bad,” all the standard conventional wisdom stuff of people trying to come up with the explanation. That\u2019s not it. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s very simple. He doesn\u2019t look at America as the solution. We\u2019re the problem. He doesn\u2019t think the United States has any moral authority in places like Libya. In fact, I would venture to say that if you get Obama to be honest, he\u2019d tell you that there have been times in our history when we have been Libya. We\u2019re no different. He probably thinks, who are we telling Khadafy what to do? Who are we to stand up for people around the world who want freedom? Hell, the way Obama looks at it, we\u2019ve been denying freedom to our own citizens for who knows how long. I\u2019m serious. I think the explanations for Obama\u2019s inaction, indecision are quite simple. He just doesn\u2019t have the view of America as an exceptional place, as a solution to the world\u2019s problems. He just doesn\u2019t. I think I\u2019m like most people. I think I\u2019m like you. When I lie awake in bed at night or when I\u2019m daydreaming in the afternoon, when I get home from work and I\u2019m reviewing the day, whatever, I occupy my mind with my job, “How could I get better at it. How can I do a better job?” Well, I do do this. <\/p>\n

At the end of every program I review it and say, “What could I have done better? How could I have stayed more energized in the third hour,” or whatever it is. I don\u2019t get the impression Barack Obama does this at all. I don\u2019t think Barack Obama is introspective about the job he\u2019s doing at all. I think his ego is such that the whole concept of not doing a good job is foreign to him. His ego is such that his presence equals greatness. Not his actions. His aura. So, Libya, you name it, the BP oil spill, all of these things, if they don\u2019t present a political opportunity to advance his agenda, then they\u2019re nagging problems, they\u2019re just distractions, like Afghanistan. You look at how long it took to figure out what to do there. I have no doubt in my mind that as far as Obama\u2019s concerned that Afghanistan\u2019s just a whole distraction. He really rather not have to deal with it at all. His mind-set is, all he\u2019s gotta do is show up. And sometimes not even that. You know, he\u2019s really not even voting “present” on Libya. <\/p>\n

Look at Gitmo. Yeah, executive order, yeah, he\u2019s gonna close it, yeah, it\u2019s gonna satisfy the base. But look, it\u2019s still open, which I, by the way, knew would be the case, as you well know. But he seems to be detached, to me, in a bubble. I wasn\u2019t gonna play it but grab sound bite five. This is last night. He went to another party last night, a fundraiser for the Democrats, and this is about as far as he\u2019ll commit to anything in this Japan business.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: We\u2019re at a moment in time where obviously all of us are heartbroken by the images of what\u2019s happening in Japan, and we\u2019re reminded of how American leadership is critical to our closest allies, even if those allies are themselves economically advanced and powerful, there are moments where they need our help and we\u2019re bound together by a common humanity.<\/p>\n

RUSH: He\u2019s uttering the words. There\u2019s no backup here. What is this, even if those allies are themselves economically advanced and powerful? What he\u2019s really saying is let \u2019em help themselves, to hell with them. In fact, Jay Carney, I heard this last night or did we play it on the air yesterday, Jay Carney, the press yesterday, I think we had it yesterday, some reporter asked him a question about Japan, and Carney said, “Go talk to your own news agency. You got reporters over there.” You had the White House press secretary telling reporters in the daily press briefing, (paraphrasing) “Don\u2019t ask me. Don\u2019t ask your government. Don\u2019t ask your regime about what\u2019s going on in Japan. Ask your own reporters. You\u2019ve got reporters over there. Your reporters know more about what\u2019s going on than we do.” He didn\u2019t say it, but, “You guys care more than we do.” I remember how they called Reagan lazy. Went to sleep all the time, fell asleep in cabinet meetings, old doddering fool. Look at all that Reagan accomplished, and he never voted present, and he was never AWOL. Situations like we face today.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\nRUSH: Lincoln, Nebraska, a place I have been numerous times. Keith, great to have you on the program, sir. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: How about Lincoln, Kansas, this time, Rush?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Ah, you\u2019re right. You know what? That\u2019s my fault. I misread that. I\u2019ve not been to Lincoln, Kansas.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, it\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s the limestone capital of the world. I would like to implant in my brain the Rush Limbaugh computer chip for excellence in journalism, and with your empathizing I would like three topics real quick. I would like to be able to give you my top three on presidential, the Libya, and Japan. Here\u2019s my top three. I would go with a nonpolitician, Herman Cain, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, and on Libya I would have never been indecisive, I woulda done just what I\u2019d done in North Korea when they sunk the 53 South Koreans on the ship, I woulda hit a nuclear facility, I would go into Libya and I would dispose of Khadafy, militarily, I would hold and be there to have fair elections.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Hold on a minute. I want to ask you, if you were president of the United States, why would you care what Khadafy\u2019s doing?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I care because if we don\u2019t do it now, five, ten, 15 years from now we\u2019re gonna do the same thing we did in Iraq where there\u2019s hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters begging for us to come in there and help them. Help us establish our standing in the world again, like in Bahrain, Iran, if they decided to protest or even North Korea, I want \u2019em to know, the United States is still there, they\u2019re powerful, and they\u2019re gonna do something about it, they\u2019re not gonna be dithering and they\u2019re gonna start just —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Have you ever asked yourself at any time in your life, you\u2019re young and growing up and you start paying attention to the news, and any time something happens around the world in any country large or small there was always one faction of the story that had to do with what the United States was going to do. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why does that matter?” For example, let\u2019s pick Bahrain. You\u2019re growing up in Bahrain and you read of some protests going on in the Philippines. If you live in Bahrain, do you ever wonder, “What are we gonna do about that?” The people of the United States uniquely ask themselves, “What are we going to do about that?” especially when it comes to people\u2019s freedom being oppressed. Were you like that growing up? What do we have to do with this? When I was young, that was one of the first questions I had when I was reading or absorbing news from places around the world, there was always a United States angle or component to it. It took me awhile to understand the nature of a superpower and our role in it, even outside the notion that we had a competitor in the Soviet Union, here we just automatically as Americans, “Okay, got problems in Libya, we have to do something.” I don\u2019t think any people of any nation in the world think that when something happens outside their country. Why is that?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, when I was growing up in junior high in Manhattan, Kansas, there was a guy by the name of Mel Davis, a friend of mine. Everybody made fun of him because of his glasses, the way he dressed, but he was a genius, and I said to myself, “What can I do to help this young man?” and I became his best friend and he\u2019s one of my best friends I ever had in my life, and it\u2019s the way I look at life in general. It\u2019s just like in Japan you ask if you\u2019re caring. Rush, yes, you care about the $14.3 trillion debt, you care about the 1.7 deficit, you care about original bills, no earmarks, drill domestically, let\u2019s get energy independence. You do care. But what can you do? What can you do about it, Rush? I mean you addressed the problem, you hit it right on the head, and the thing about Japan is these people getting 3200 microsieverts of radiation, the average person gets 6200 a year, a hundred thousand in their lifetime it takes to have health problems, 50,000 in a lifetime is your average radioactivity that you will receive. So do I care, do I empathize, do I have sympathy for Japan? Yes, I do. But you know what though? It\u2019s gonna all turn out to be sensationalism in journalism.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s part of it, but I\u2019m basically focusing on what it is to be an American and we do think there\u2019s something we could do in Japan, some think there\u2019s something we should do. There are a lot of us that think only we can do it. It\u2019s relatively new in this country that we have leaders who say, “Hey, you can print your own money, go ahead and handle it yourself.” That\u2019s new. It\u2019s really new to have a president who basically tunes out, makes a speech now and then and that supposedly fixes it, solves it, covers it, or what have you. I find it incredibly noteworthy that we are the only country in the world where an event outside our country happens — I don\u2019t care what, it could be large or small, like Somalia. I\u2019ll never forget how that happened. The New York Times publishes a picture on the front page, black and white picture of an obviously starving Somali child with insects hovering around his head, and that was it. The president was forced to send the military over there in a Meals on Wheels operation. The American people demanded it. Pictures are very powerful things. <\/p>\n

I dare say that on that continent there wasn\u2019t one country upon seeing that picture, “Well, we gotta do something about this.” They probably said, “The US has gotta do something about this,” or “We\u2019ll join the US if they do,” but I doubt the Brits get up and say, “Gosh, look at all the suffering in Somalia, we gotta do something.” But they\u2019re closest to us in that, and they\u2019re very crucial and important allies. That\u2019s what it boils down. I\u2019m asking everybody, okay, yeah, Khadafy and the downing of Pan Am jet, Khadafy and worldwide terrorism, Khadafy — yeah, I can understand we\u2019ve got our grievances with Khadafy, but all of a sudden we\u2019ve got some rebels there, why in the world do we care? The answer always boils down to morality. The United States has always been the moral force for freedom and goodness and decency. Isn\u2019t that why so many of us just revolt at the view of this country held by the left and our current regime? They find our country flawed. They don\u2019t think we have any moral superiority when it comes to freedom and liberty.<\/p>\n

They may say the words. Their policies don\u2019t follow it up. But folks, it\u2019s not only that when we see events around the world happen that we say to ourselves, “What are we gonna do about it?” We just naturally assume that there\u2019s something we could or should do about it. Everybody else in the world is looking to us, too. Everybody else, “What\u2019s the United States gonna do?” Who is the first on the scene when there\u2019s a disaster? It\u2019s always us. American exceptionalism, American superpower status, economic might, moral superiority, whatever you want to call it, but it is that moral superiority that gives the left problems. They don\u2019t believe it. They look at this country as immoral, and they\u2019ll tell you why. Slavery, racism, sexism, bigotry, lack of agreement to same-sex marriage, you name it. The fact that we don\u2019t grant amnesty, the fact that we don\u2019t open our borders and let virtually anybody in, how can we claim any moral superiority, the moral force of the world when we are so inherently flawed ourselves? It leads to these internal battles between ourselves inside the country. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if we don\u2019t take action somewhere, this is why Libya\u2019s important, what is the Middle East gonna become if we stay out of it? And that\u2019s too frightening to contemplate. If you throw the United States in the mix of this, within the rubric of our moral obligation and our moral — maybe superiority is the wrong word, but we do have a moral standing, particularly in the areas of standing for liberty and freedom, people who want to escape tyranny and oppression. We\u2019ve always been the country around the world where that happened. Freedom was up to us. It\u2019s why it was so important to maintain and guarantee our own. If we didn\u2019t do that, it was worthless to anybody else. So if we just say, okay, well, the Middle East, what right do we have to be there? If we\u2019re not there, what does it become? And in that regard, how are our interests affected? And it could be disastrous if we stay out of it. <\/p>\n

A lot of people confuse our desire to do something with Khadafy as us trying to impose our will on a bunch of people who have no desire to see that imposition, which is really not in the old days the expressed purpose of US foreign policy. The purpose of US foreign policy was to protect our own national interests. Now, in the case of the Middle East, what if a multination total Al-Qaeda or Taliban- run Middle East is the result of what goes on there? After Khadafy, after Mubarak, whatever happens in Bahrain, suppose the militant Islamists get hold of the Saudi oil supply, and next Abu Dhabi, or Qatar. We can\u2019t allow it to happen, but not just because of our selfishness, but because the free flow of oil around the world at market prices is in fact the fuel of the engine of freedom. And if we punt, it\u2019s not just that we\u2019re getting out of it because we have no business there, they have self-determination. The people in these countries are not exhibiting self-determination. The rebels in Libya may, in fact, be trying to express self-determination. We\u2019ll still trying to figure out what it all means in Egypt. But it\u2019s best to have a role in this for our own national interests and the interests of freedom and liberty here and around the world. <\/p>\n

But if you don\u2019t have a leader articulating that, if you don\u2019t have an administration with that as a guiding principle or foreign policy, then you\u2019re gonna have nothing but mud, murkiness, and confusion, which is gonna lead to dispiritedness and a loss of a sense of purpose of the United States. And I\u2019ll tell you, I\u2019m really worried that that is what\u2019s happening now, that around the world people are questioning the purpose of the United States, where they never did before. They\u2019re questioning our commitment as a people and as a nation, the concept of freedom. Now, those of you who are young, born in this country and never been anywhere else, you don\u2019t know the rest of the world. You don\u2019t know the story of humanity. Sadly, it\u2019s not being taught to you in schools. You hear the term “American exceptionalism,” and it can mean many things, but it does not mean that we are better people than anybody else in the world. It does not mean that we are special because we were born here. <\/p>\n

If you look at history, the story of humanity has been poverty, misery, imprisonment, tyranny, dictatorship, starvation, massive suffering. The exception to that is the United States. That\u2019s why, to me, we are exceptional. And why has human freedom been the dominant theme of this country? Why has realizing individual dreams? Ninety-five percent of all human beings who have lived since creation were denied the opportunity to fulfill their dreams. Their main, number one objective was surviving, against the stranglehold of other human beings. That has never been a concern of people in the UnitedStates. Our concerns are much less dangerous. Our concerns are, “Can I be first in line to get the new iPad?” Our concerns are, “How do I prolong my life and get better health care?” I\u2019m not belittling our concerns. I\u2019m trying to draw a contrast here and to stipulate what\u2019s special about this country, why we are looked at the way we are and why we\u2019re looked to the way we are and what is exceptional about us. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s frightening is that we don\u2019t now have an administration that accepts or believes any of that, nothing special about this country. In fact, our crimes, if you will, our transgressions far outweigh whatever goodness there has been in this country. It\u2019s time for us to pay a price. That\u2019s what this current regime believes in many ways. The Middle East is on fire. Let\u2019s go play golf. Let\u2019s go to ESPN, give you my brackets. Send Mrs. Clinton over there, without a message, without a mission, that so upsets her she wants to check out of everything, which is the only benefit.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: The UK, the Brits, ladies and gentlemen, when they were a superpower — and they voluntarily gave it up. They voluntarily withdrew from the world, and almost simultaneously they opened their borders, and it\u2019s been downhill ever since. But when they were a superpower, they used to concern themselves with the problems of the world. Does the name “Wilberforce” mean anything to you? Have you ever heard the name, William Wilberforce? He is the guy who abolished slavery in the world. He was a Brit. A beautiful, wonderful movie was made about it. It didn\u2019t get a whole lot of attention. I saw the screener. I talked about it on the program. <\/p>\n

He was just a trader, and he helped rid the world of slavery and the slave trade in the UK, William Wilberforce. Philip Anschutz company made the movie about it. But if you spend any time… I marvel. Every time I go to European, go to the UK, turn on Sky News, BBC. If I go to Italy, wherever I\u2019ve been in the world, it\u2019s incredible: Every news story has to do with what the United States will do about whatever the problem of the day is. I don\u2019t care where you go. Every news story (particularly foreign policy) will deal with some quote from some American foreign policy person about what the US role in that story is going to be. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably the same all over the world. Everybody looks to us. So it\u2019s shocking to see headlines about how we\u2019re waiting for a UN resolution about going into Libya. This is just not who we are! We\u2019re the ones going to the UN trying to get a coalition put together, as in Iraq. Now, in Libya it\u2019s a tough call, which is why Obama\u2019s by no means qualified. In Libya, the opposition is probably largely influenced by Al-Qaeda. The rebels in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are largely Shi\u2019ites which is influenced by Iran. Now, these are tough calls, what side to come down on. It\u2019s not a show. It\u2019s not a speech. It\u2019s why we need somebody with good judgment at the helm who has an interest in US interests, and it doesn\u2019t appear that that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Let me expand on this just a little bit, something I mentioned at the close of the previous hour. In this situation in Libya, who are the rebels? We see Khadafy, we see bad guy. We see “rebels,” we see good guys. Anybody who wants to get rid of Khadafy\u2019s gotta be a good guy. Well, in the context here of US foreign policy, the Mideast on fire, what is it going to become? We do have a vested interest in this. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Back to this situation in Libya. This is very interesting because the opposition, the rebels (this is not known for certain) may be largely influenced by Al-Qaeda. You know, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the automatic assumption was that this is a democracy movement, an uprising for freedom. So we had Clapper from this administration say (summarized) “Well, the Muslim Brotherhood, they\u2019re secular! They\u2019re really they\u2019re not a problem. They\u2019re good guys, essentially.” Which is, A, wrong. B, it\u2019s dangerous to have somebody in our administration who thinks that, much less says it. But it still isn\u2019t known, and we might have the most fervent hopes and desires that a democracy movement is rising, but the odds of this in the Middle East without our involvement? I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t trust it. <\/p>\n

We had a democracy movement in Iraq. We took it to Iraq. We delivered it. Libya sent fighters to help the “insurgents” in Iraq. The people that we were employing the surge against, Libya was sending fighters to support. So to assume that simply because we oversaw (one might say implemented) a democracy movement in Iraq and that it\u2019s gonna automatically arise elsewhere is a wonderful hope, but you can\u2019t count on it, particularly without any kind of involvement. But yet, so many people this country said, “Mubarak has got to go!” Mubarak, when everything was measured, was more of an ally than he wasn\u2019t to us. <\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t treat his people well, but there again comes this balance of foreign policy in this region. You don\u2019t want a calf I forget ate over there, and there arguments, some people think that a caliphate is in the process of being put together, and others say, “That\u2019s silly. There not gonna be a caliphate!” Can you take the chance? Can\u2019t just sit back and take the chance that a caliphate will never happen. Sharia caliphate I\u2019m talking about. You just can\u2019t sit around and take the chance that that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening. So, the rebels in Libya. They are largely influenced by Al-Qaeda, but up the road in Bahrain they\u2019ve got rebels there, too. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve got rebels in Saudi Arabia. Now, that\u2019s unique, too. The royal family in Saudi Arabia is the closest thing to a steel trap that there is in the world today outside of the ChiComs and North Koreans. For them to be uprisings there is quite telling. The rebels in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are Shi\u2019ites. The Shi\u2019ites, obviously, are largely influenced by Iran. So look at the competing forces here: Al-Qaeda, probably in Libya. Iran, everywhere, but particularly now in Libya. These are tough calls. Who do you support? Conventional wisdom: Don\u2019t support Khadafy. Gotta go. Pan Am, the downing of the Pan Am jetliner, Libya, Khadafy responsible for it. (interruption)<\/p>\n

Well, we did have him contained, but, remember, after George W. Bush and the move into Iraq, Libya disarmed. Khadafy got scared to death. We had Libya contained, until this regime assumes power. Now, you can say whatever you want Khadafy, but we can quote him. He thinks Obama\u2019s one of them. I don\u2019t care whether it is or not, and I\u2019m not saying it. Doesn\u2019t matter what I think in this regard. Khadafy is saying he thinks Obama\u2019s one of them. So he\u2019s acting like it, too. (Thank me.) He\u2019s acting like it. And so far what is he to think? He\u2019s done a lot of huffing and puffing. They sent Mrs. Clinton over there. Big whoop!<\/p>\n

So what are we gonna do? Tough calls. It\u2019s why you need people with real good judgment and a lot of experience. The United States foreign policy-wise in the past was always looked to for many reasons (our power, obviously, our money) but we were also viewed as honest brokers. On balance, people around the world thought they were gonna get a fair shake. Look at our foreign aid budget. We give foreign aid to scoundrels. I would change that as we\u2019ve been through many, many times. Bottom line is: I don\u2019t think Obama thinks the US has been honest brokers. <\/p>\n

I think in every realm, the way we think of our country — having moral standing in the world, a force for good against evil, a solution to the world\u2019s problems — I don\u2019t think that this regime, certainly not Obama, I don\u2019t believe he believes it. We got Reverend Wright. I\u2019m sure Reverend Wright and Farrakhan have probably told Khadafy things that make Khadafy think he\u2019s safe behaving this way. Khadafy\u2019s been given awards by Farrakhan. Farrakhan\u2019s a nut, so\u2019s Khadafy, but they\u2019re associates — and Jeremiah Wright doesn\u2019t see a problem with Khadafy. Obama went to the guy\u2019s church 20 years.<\/p>\n

But he never heard anything he said so we don\u2019t have to worry about it. (Well, that\u2019s the story.) So if we have a president who doesn\u2019t think that we are honest brokers and that we never have been, and we got the region on fire, that\u2019s why a lot of people are concerned — equally about that as well as what\u2019s going on in Japan. So, when the president dashes off to Rio, when he says, “I gotta do my Sweet 16 picks…” I\u2019ll tell you something else about that. If you took a look at his picks… I don\u2019t do this, but I have a lot of sports friends. I got people love the NCAAs, they just love \u2019em, and I got some e-mails from some of them that said, “This guy\u2019s the biggest wimp on the face of the earth. He picked every #1 seed in the Final Four! People serious about this don\u2019t do that. That\u2019s gutless. Anybody can pick the #1 seeds!” <\/p>\n

So he\u2019s even among those who get into this, he\u2019s not getting a whole lot of love respect from those people from whom he\u2019s trying to build a bridge. Well, let\u2019s go to the audio sound bites. It is not just me, ladies and gentlemen. (interruption) I know. Hillary and Obama say Khadafy has to go. Well, once upon a time the Clintons said Saddam has to go, too, but he never went anywhere — and the only effort we made to get rid of Saddam was bombing a building on Saturday night, which injured a janitor in Baghdad. But once they took care of the Monica situation then Saddam didn\u2019t matter anymore. These people over there have long memories. In Egypt we\u2019ve placed one dictator with another. Mubarak\u2019s gone in exchange now for the Egyptian military (and that\u2019s if we\u2019re lucky, if they hold on). <\/p>\n

But here. This is a montage of media types from last night and this morning and they\u2019re starting to use the F-word about Obama.<\/p>\n

SPITZER: What does this say about Barack Obama and his political leadership, and will this become a metaphor for his failure to lead?<\/p>\n

WILLIAMS: If you want to talk about problems on leadership, let\u2019s talk about his failure.<\/p>\n

TODD: Is it looking like a failure of leadership?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Whoa! That\u2019s F. Chuck Todd at the end, Juan Williams at the beginning, and Client No. 9 led off: Eliot Spitzer. All three guys, we\u2019re talking about failure. Can we go back to January 16th, 2009, this program.<\/p>\n

RUSH ARCHIVE: I don\u2019t need 400 words. I need four: I hope he fails. What you are laughing at? See, now, here\u2019s the point. Everybody thinks it\u2019s outrageous to say. Even my staff, “Oh, you can\u2019t do that!” Why not? Why is it any different — what\u2019s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what\u2019s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don\u2019t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long, “Limbaugh: ‘I hope Obama fails.'” Somebody\u2019s gotta say it.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I said it. Now these other guys are asking it, but this is not how I meant failure. This is not the kind of failure I had in mind. So it goes on. David “Rodham” Gergen (who probably also really admired the crease in Obama\u2019s pants at one point) last night, was on CNN, The Arena. That\u2019s the new name of Client No. 9\u2019s show since he got rid of the skirt, Kathleen Parker. So now he owns the show with his own cadre of rotating guests. So he said, Spitzer says to Gergen, “We\u2019ve heard President Obama say repeatedly, ‘Khadafy has to go, Khadafy has no legitimacy,\u2019 yet Khadafy\u2019s still there, and we\u2019re doing nothing to help the opposition. Can you explain this?”<\/p>\n

GERGEN: Difficult. You almost invite the rebels to keep fighting because they think you\u2019re gonna be there at their side, and here then when you let them be crushed — and they are about to be crushed; it\u2019s too late for a no-fly zone — then it\u2019s the humiliation for the president and it\u2019s an embarrassment in many ways.<\/p>\n

RUSH: See, this is the thing: Why is it an embarrassment for US president when something in Libya happens? The fact is it is. It is. It\u2019s just because of our power . Now, again the rebels in this case are Al-Qaeda. So David “Rodham” Gergen here is: Well, you know, we\u2019re gonna let Al-Qaeda get crushed. So this a toughie. You help Khadafy and you support — it\u2019s not guaranteed, but best guesses are that these rebels are backed by Al-Qaeda. So Eliot Spitzer said, “Well, look what\u2019s the hesitancy? What\u2019s creating this lack of decision? The Arab League said, ‘Do a no-fly zone!\u2019 I mean, Obama\u2019s been asked by the Arabs to do it. He\u2019s been invited in by the Arabs. Why doesn\u2019t he do anything?”<\/p>\n

GERGEN: There has been no American leadership with this. To have the headline in the Washington Post: “On Libya, Obama Wants Others to Lead”? To you and me as traditionalists, that\u2019s sort of, “What?” It\u2019s very, uh, hard to understand. The Wall Street Journal in its editorial made a really important point the other day: “This is what the world is gonna start looking like without American leadership.”<\/p>\n

RUSH: Bingo! Bingo! And don\u2019t think Obama doesn\u2019t know it. Don\u2019t think he\u2019s not aware of it.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: This is unbelievable. This is unbelievable. Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to the embassy of Japan, the Japanese embassy in Washington and signed the condolence book for lives lost in the earthquake and the tsunami. He took up an entire page of the condolence book. That\u2019s what he thinks is leadership. And they got video of it, Fox is showing video, there\u2019s Obama writing a whole page in the condolence book. See, he cares. What a great guy. Man, are we lucky to have such leadership. He went over and wrote in the condolence book at the Japanese embassy. (interruption) Take credit for what? Oh, come on. He\u2019s not doing this \u2019cause of me. No way is he doing this \u2019cause of me. He\u2019s not doing this because of any criticism. Well, if he is, that\u2019s even worse. But this is just what he thinks is leadership.<\/p>\n

END TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

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RUSH: Santo in Coral Springs, Florida. Nice to have you on the program. Hello. CALLER: Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Rush. I\u2019m really glad to finally be able to speak with you. RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: Thank you. And I wanted to get to my point. 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