Obama Opines on His Long Career

RUSH: Pete Wehner’s Commentary piece says it just wasn’t supposed to be this hard, and I doubt anything in Obama’s life really has been hard. I think he’s been very charmed. In this story from the AP that Obama may have to wait for health care, listen to this quote from Obama. ‘There have been so many times during my political career where people have said, ‘Boy, this is make-or-break for Obama.” Uh, ladies and gentlemen, his career is about five minutes old. ‘So many times in my career,’ and he talks about stock market went down, ‘Everybody was saying, ‘This is a disaster.’ What I found is as long as we’re making good decisions,’ which you’re… Well, his career is five minutes old. He had 150 days in the Senate. He’s never done anything. Obviously, it’s time for a third memoir. I mean, if his career is this extensive and he had this many challenges, it’s time for the third autobiography. Yeah, let’s start discussion of a legacy. What a career, what a career, 150 days in the Senate, and rabble-rousing as a community organizer.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We actually have the quote or the sound bite here from last night on the CBS Evening News. Katie Couric, presiding over the lowest ratings ever in the history of CBS Evening News, despite the intro still being done by the late Walter Cronkite, interviewed Obama. She said, ‘There’s a lot of talk about momentum right now. Of course, the first month of the presidency, that’s when the political wind is with you. Are you worried, if you can’t get something passed soon, that health care reform will be DOA?’

OBAMA (sped up): There have been so many times, uh, during my political career, certainly during this — the presidential race, and even in the last six months, where people have said, ‘Boy, this is make-or-break, uh, for Obama.’ That was true when I was in Iowa, uh, and people were sure that we weren’t going to win. That was true, you know, during periods in the general election. Uh, when the stock market went down, everybody was saying, ‘This is a disaster.’ And what I found is — is that as long as we are making good decisions, thinking always, ‘What’s going to be best for the American people,’ that eventually, uh, as long as we’re persistent and we’re listening to the American people, that things get done.

RUSH: Well, you’re not listening because they don’t want this. It’s up over 50% now who want no part of this. ‘Throughout any career…’ — which is five minutes old — he had 150 days in the Senate, six months in the White House, some career. As I say, it’s time for a third memoir. He’s gotten so much done, so many hard decisions out there, so many challenges out there. Katie Couric, the exchange continued…

COURIC: Are you concerned about all that if health care reform fails it will be a huge and devastating setback to your presidency, and may put some of the rest of your agenda in peril?

OBAMA (sped up): You know, I — I think that the easiest way to keep your poll numbers up and, uh, to garner good press is to do not that much here in this town, and not to cause a lot of controversy. Uh, and there are some people that would probably advise that that’s the approach you should take. But that’s not why the American people sent me here. They sent me here to solve problems.

RUSH: Yeah, that’s what they thought they were sending you to do. You’re causing them. You’re now causing problems and it’s catching up with them. People are figuring out now. He’s causing this stuff. So Katie Couric finally says, ‘Mr. President, if the stimulus plan isn’t really working, at least for now, why should Americans sign off on spending billions of dollars on health care reform?’

OBAMA (sped up): I disagree that the stimulus plan is not working. Think about what — where we’ve been and since that time, we have stabilized the financial markets, we have created the ability of businesses to borrow again.

RUSH: No, no.

OBAMA (sped up): We have prevented, uh, thousands of layoffs in states all across the country.

RUSH: How can he say that?

OBAMA (sped up): Are we where we need to be? Absolutely not. Would things be much worse if we had not put the recovery package in place? Absolutely.

RUSH: Oh, yeah, they rescued the economy out there. So none of that’s true. Think about the financial markets. You know how we stabilize financial markets? It wasn’t stimulus plan. Bernanke has flooded the financial markets with dollars. And I saw the other day, if we fully bailed it out, do you realize what a myth this is? The financial markets are $23 trillion to make ’em all solvent is what somebody said it would cost. Twenty-three trillion! There haven’t been a trillion hours since Christ was born. A trillion seconds, maybe. Something like that. Twenty-three trillion. Okay, so Obama you heard him say here things would be much worse if we hadn’t put that recovery package in place but it was just yesterday that Barney Frank said…

FRANK (sped up): No one has ever gotten reelected where the bumper sticker said, ‘It Would Have Been Worse Without Me.’ You can probably get tenure with that, but you can’t win office. I understand that reality, but we should not let it distort us. And it would not, I think, hurt us every so often to admit that not every action by every public official was a bad thing, and sometimes we should give people credit for trying to cope with an unpleasant reality the best they can.

RUSH: Yeah, right. So Obama says, ‘Hey, it would have been much worse if we hadn’t done this,’ and Barney Frank says, ‘I never knew anybody got reelected trying that ploy.’ Ha, ha, ha!

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Jayne in Soda Springs, Idaho. Hi, Jayne, great to have you with us.

CALLER: Thank you for taking my call.

RUSH: Yes, ma’am.

CALLER: I appreciate that.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: I’m just really glad you got to visit our state and enjoy our outdoor air-conditioning, and I’d like to invite you to come to our golf course where you can play golf right next to the wagon ruts of the old Oregon trail.

RUSH: Wow, it was beautiful. It was the first time I’d been to Idaho. I went to Coeur d’Alene.

CALLER: We’re down in the mountains in the southeast corner, and it’s really pretty here —

RUSH: Yeah, that would be 20 minutes away on EIB one from Coeur d’Alene, yeah, then I want to go up to what is the place, the media bigs have their meeting there every year, and John Kerry has a place up there. My good friend Mike Hartley has a place right next to John Kerry.

CALLER: Yeah, Ketchum, Idaho.

RUSH: No, not Ketchum.

CALLER: Sun Valley.

RUSH: Yeah, yeah, Sun Valley.

CALLER: Sun Valley.

RUSH: Sun Valley, yeah. Another 20 minutes away on EIB from Coeur d’Alene.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Yeah, I know you didn’t call about travel, so what’s up?

CALLER: Okay, my question is, I think Obama is a chameleon, and the change he talks about was he changes. And I want to know, is he going to change again and move to the center for the next election, or is he just arrogant enough to think that he doesn’t have to do that now and he’s going to throw the Democrats under the bus?

RUSH: Which election do you mean, 2010?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Well, Obama’s never been anything other than what he is. He’s never been a centrist. He talked centrism all through the campaign but now we see the real Obama. He’s a radical leftist. If he can do it once he can do it again. Something that’s happened before can happen again much more logical than something never happening to happen. But he’s done it. So he’ll do whatever he has to to get this done. He will do whatever, and to save his presidency, if it means Democrats lose he might even like Republicans taking over one of these houses of Congress. I’ll tell you why. Because then they get to share the blame.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: He might not mind the Democrats losing the Senate or the House. I’m sure he wouldn’t prefer it but I betcha they got a plan, ‘Okay, good, these guys win, they’re going to be culpable, too.’

CALLER: Right, yes.

RUSH: They can triangulate like Clinton. In fact, you know, if they don’t convince these clowns to get this done by the August recess, when they do come back, and they will come back, that’s why we should not get giddy here, this is not over, this hasn’t been beaten. He’ll come back, ‘Okay we’ve listened, we’ve heard, we’re going to pull this out, pull that out,’ and people go, ‘We won,’ and then they’ll put it all back in over time with new legislation added to the overall legislation, just like we beat ’em back on the amnesty bill, but now they’re going back at it piecemeal. It’s the thing about the left, Jayne, I don’t care, move center, move right, they’re liberals. As such, they are dishonest. They do not seek to do what the people want. They hold the people in contempt. They want power over the people. They will say and do whatever. The reason that they’re so just pedal-to-the-metal liberal is because, you nailed it, they own Washington, and that makes them arrogant in public. They’re not holding back, they’re not denying who they are now ’cause they think they’ve got power back forever. And they don’t. These things are always cyclical.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Maui. This is Laurie in Maui, Hawaii. Great to have you on the EIB Network, Laurie. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?

RUSH: Fine. Thank you.

CALLER: I’m so glad I got through to you. (laughs) It’s taken me a long time.

RUSH: It’s early in Hawaii. It’s ten ’til nine in the morning in the Hawaii, too.

CALLER: Of course, but it’s beautiful here and you need to come over here and play golf.

RUSH: I am.

CALLER: (laughing) You’ll love it.

RUSH: I’m going to be there the first week of September.

CALLER: Oh, God, take my number so I can come and talk to you. (laughing)

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: You’re so smart, I love it! (laughing) You’re so intelligent.

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: I know you’ve got a little bit of time with each of us on the radio but take my number so we can go have dinner. I’ll take my husband. He’s 91 years old and he’s healthy as a champ. (laughing) My question. Actually I want to ask you something, and then give you two things to research, okay? Then give us an answer some other time.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: When Obama gets asked a hard question and he goes into that 10- or 15-minute rant that he goes on, going on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

RUSH: Yeah?

CALLER: When first asked a question, he tries to answer it, but he can’t. So he goes on about something else, and I’m totally lost in what he’s talking about.

RUSH: That’s the point.

CALLER: Ah!

RUSH: That’s the exact point. What he’s doing out there, Laurie… I’m going to ask you to give Snerdley your research questions because I’ve gotta get a couple sound bites in here. So don’t hang up here. But, Laurie, the point of the long answers is to limit the number of questions. Not only that. It’s to limit the number of questions and it’s to dazzle people with his command of intricate detail. But let’s note that the audience ratings for his TV press conferences are plummeting, folks. It’ll be interesting to see what they are tonight. So get her two research things.