Obama Shatters Our Self-Esteem; Denies American Exceptionalism

RUSH: No longer in love with myself. Barack Obama’s seen to it the last two days. We teach self-esteem in this country, kids gotta love themselves, whatever they do, it’s great. He just ripped me to shreds, ripped you to shreds, ripped our history to shreds, ripped the kitten to shreds. I don’t know how we can go on. I just don’t know how we can go on, and it’s especially going to be tough for the children when this speech is played for them, mandatory viewing in schools over the next couple of days. I feel like I’m in a James Bond movie. I feel like Ernst Stavro Blofeld has taken over the UN and the world and the best spy that we have, me, is headed for the gulag, and Eric Holder holds the key. They’re going to get rid of the best spies this country has. I mean the UN is filled with genuinely insane people, and they are being inspired by our president, a legitimate kook, insane people. It’s a James Bond movie coming to life except the bad guys win.

All right, to the phones. People have been waiting patiently. We’re going to start in Rochester, New York. Michael, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, how you doing?

RUSH: I’m fine. Thank you.

CALLER: That’s good. Let me throw a couple of things at you and you come back at me if one sticks, okay? First of all I heard Obama this morning talking, and I got a different view on it than you did. And before you reply, what he said, that you even just played on your bite, we respect their rights to be a community of nations.

RUSH: Yeah. Yeah.

CALLER: Now, you said earlier that he did not — that he respected the elections in Iran, and I never heard the word election all through his speech. Now, wait a second. Then you said —

RUSH: No, wait just a second. He didn’t say it in this speech. He did, in previous speeches, refuse to condemn the fraudulent election in Iran. He refuses to stand up and support the people who want to overthrow the dictator regime there. Look, Obama sides with the wrong side. He sides with the wrong people in Central America. His best friends, Hugo Chavez, give me the old days, folks, give me the old days. Where a genuine lunatic kook, Hugo Chavez shows up, says he can smell the sulfur in the room after George Bush has spoken because that means the devil had been there. And the place starts laughing. That was just, what, a year ago or two years ago? Was it one year ago? Now look at what’s happened in one year.

Now the Chavezes of the world have taken control of the place, inspired by our president of the United States. And I have a first caller here who wants to say, ‘Oh, no, Obama didn’t disrespect.’ I do not understand. You know, I’m an adult; I’m mature; I’m educated; I’m informed; I’m a patriot. I’m never going to be able to get my arms around the concept, understanding why people born in this country hate it. I’m never going to understand it. And even if it’s not hate, they don’t like it. I’m never going to understand it. The greatest country that’s ever been, and somehow that’s offensive to say to people, it certainly is offensive to Obama. I got calls from people saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t hear him trash the country, I heard him say what needed to be said.’ I want to reach through the telephone line and I want to grab these little pencil-necked geek people around the neck and say, ‘Would you wake up?’

Tiffany in Powell, Wyoming.

CALLER: Rush.

RUSH: Yeah, hi.

CALLER: Rush it is a pleasure to speak to you. I’m honored.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: I just had a couple of things to say to you. As I was watching this whole circus unfold today I thought of a line as Obama was speaking from my favorite movie which was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and it says you can’t respect someone who kisses your ass. And I am appalled that my president, the person that was elected by people in my country, would lower us down and basically sell us out for his version of respect. I don’t think that those people will ever respect us. I mean for God’s sakes we’re sending them money and they’re not respecting us —

RUSH: Of course they’re not. They’re laughing at him.

CALLER: I know.

RUSH: I mean some of these kooks think it’s good. They’re laughing at him. Khadafy thinks it’s great that such a lunatic is running the country. We’re weaker. The Iranians love it. The Russians love it. Obama is before our very eyes weakening the country. I haven’t seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Now, I’ve tried to watch it a couple times. Everybody said you ought to watch it because it’s practical jokes, it’s right up your alley. I tried to watch it a couple times, it didn’t grab my interest, but that’s a great line. You can’t respect somebody who kisses your butt. You said ass, but I’m host, I do not lower the standards of my own show, callers can but I won’t. The only time I say ass is talking about Hillary’s being too big to fit in a military uniform. But that’s a true philosophy. In my own life, you can spot people that are brown nosers or suck up to you, and you don’t respect them. And here’s Obama, he’s out kissing these lunatics’ butts and they’re not going to respect him. He doesn’t understand why they like him. He thinks they like him because he’s a fellow academic, finally got a smart guy, hated Bush, hate the war in Iraq, hate American imperialism. They like him because he doesn’t like the country either just like they don’t and the weaker America is the better off for them, that’s what they all think, and he’s fulfilling their desire, only he doesn’t see that.

CALLER: Right. Rush, I’m a flight attendant. I’m appalled that they let someone come into this country and respect him, Khadafy, who supports people blowing me out of the sky. I’m appalled at that also. So I just wanted to give you those two points.

RUSH: I appreciate that. You know, that is also a good point. It wasn’t very long ago they let the Lockerbie bomber out, the Brits did, and he goes home to a hero’s welcome, and Khadafy’s kid is on the plane taking him back to Libya and there’s a big cheer for the guy when he gets off the airplane and Khadafy shows up and speaks for 90 minutes today, gets some applause — Craig, did you hear me say that he demanded a new investigation of the JFK assassination? Because the Jews were behind it. We gotta find out, the Israelis were behind it. He also said don’t worry about the swine flu. Fish flu is coming.

All right, who’s next? We’ve got time for one more before the break. Tawana in Atlanta, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush.

RUSH: Hey.

CALLER: You know, it just occurs to me that if Barack Obama were the leader or prime minister of any other country, our own delegation would have got up and walked out on his speech.

RUSH: You know, that’s an excellent point. In the days where the United States had self-respect, anybody trashed us at the UN, our delegation did, they got up and walked out. I think if Obama showed up today from another country and gave this speech, our delegation in the old days would have walked out. That’s a brilliant observation out there, Tawana.

CALLER: Well, I think it’s also frightening.

RUSH: It’s very frightening.

CALLER: I mean I’m thinking, you know, if I were a delegate, I would be sitting there having a huge conflict, because I would be saying, well, you know, what this person is saying is against everything that our country stands for, he’s trashing my nation, he’s trashing my allies, but he’s my president. So do I get up, walk out based on principles —

RUSH: No, no, no.

CALLER: Or do I sit there —

RUSH: No, no, no, no. His delegation agrees with him. I’ll tell you who ought to be afraid, is our genuine allies in the world, the Brits, sitting there listening to this. Anybody depending on us for economic and military security ought to be scared out of their wits after this speech today.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Katherine in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi there.

RUSH: Hey.

CALLER: Something you said earlier really struck a chord with me because for the past few weeks I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that everything Obama has been doing the past nine months, nationalizing the banks and industry and health care, it isn’t merely chipping away at our democracy and our freedoms anymore, it truly is far more insidious, I really think tantamount to a coup. And just because he hasn’t gathered up the villagers to storm the castle doesn’t make it any less of a coup. I don’t have my dictionary, my Merriam-Webster with me, but I do know that this guy is using his influence and his resources and his moronic followers to effect a profound change in our government. And it’s even worse today because he has now thrown the United States of America under the bus on the world stage. The only thing I agree with Obama about is that we’re not better. We are the best. And honestly, any American who doesn’t know that and understand that —

RUSH: Well, let me address two things. You are right, and it did strike a chord. I did refer to this as a coup, a bloodless coup. He has delivered the United States to the global powers without firing a shot. Nobody fired a shot at us and he’s surrendering. He’s giving up the country so he can lead the world. Now, this business of when he says that we’re no better, and your rejoinder is that we’re the best, this is something that, when I rarely go out there and make a speech in public, I ask people to consider. I’m still in awe of it. There are nations, populations, groups of people, who have been around for who knows, thousands of years. We’ve been around for less than 250. In less than 250 years, less than 300 million people have produced a lifestyle and a country of roaring opportunity and prosperity, a living standard the likes that the world has never seen before. And we have shared our greatness, the things that we have learned and done with everybody around the world, we have shared our prosperity, we have shared our abundance.

And I asked myself, how did this happen? Because in terms of DNA, we are no different than any other human beings on the planet. Just because we’re born here, and just because as a result of being born, that we’re Americans, doesn’t mean that as human beings we’re better. We’re not healthier, we’re not fitter, I mean coming out of the womb there’s nothing special about us. There’s not a special American gene that God decides to implant in people before they’re born, it’s not that way. So how is it that if we’re really no different, how did all this happen? And the answer to me is very, very simple, and it’s what leads to the concept of American exceptionalism. And the whole notion of American exceptionalism is that we are an exceptional people because we were founded under principles that allow individuals to achieve the best they can. We have freedom, and we acknowledge the source of our freedom is God. And it’s these unalienable rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, they come from God, they are part of our creation, our freedom, the yearning to be free.

That’s our spirit. It’s our soul. We’re all born with it, all around the world but the rest of the world has never been invested with that responsibility and freedom. The rest of the world, the history of the world is torture, rape, mayhem, dungeons, prisons, totalitarianism, thuggery. The exception to the normal human nature that has characterized human beings from the beginning of time, the exception is the United States. And this is what is so saddening, to watch it being torn apart, ripped to shreds, criticized, and not even understood because Obama is saying, no, there is nothing exceptional about our country. In his view, we are tarnished. In his view, we are stained. In his view, we have been immoral and unjust and our Constitution is flawed. It is negative. It is imprisoning. It doesn’t recognize the concept of civil rights and human rights and all these other little bywords that leftists throw around and don’t even understand the true meaning of. So while as individuals, as human beings we’re no better than anybody else in the world, as a people, constituted as Americans, living under our Constitution, which gives us the freedom to be who we are, to do whatever we want to be the best we can be or to screw off and not do anything, we have had that freedom. And that has led to some of the most incredible inventions, the most advanced.

Look at what happened in the twentieth century in this country. Look at all the things that were invented that made lifestyles expand and grow and prosper, and life expectancy ditto. It’s just amazing when you stop to think about it, and there have been people on this planet for thousands of years and never got close to us. This nation is truly blessed. What happened in Philadelphia with the Founding Fathers, a miracle ’cause that’s not the history of the world, and that’s the whole root, folks, when you hear the term ‘American exceptionalism,’ it’s not an ego thing. It’s not anybody saying, ‘We’re better than you.’ It is that we are the exception to the rule of human nature. Study world history and you’ll find out life was not a bowl of cherries. People around the world since the beginning of time did not have time to start things like the Center for Science in the Public Interest and run around and tell people to stop eating Chinese food and stop eating coconut oil-popped popcorn. But we have such abundance, so much prosperity, that worthless busybodies can become rich by defrauding people into contributing to their stupid scams from the contributions they derive their salaries and lifestyles and then they stick their noses in everybody’s business.

People around the world didn’t have time for this. They had to work to feed themselves first and foremost and then they had to stay alive. And we don’t worry about any of that. Well, I take it back. We do worry about it to the extent that you listen to some of these nannies who tell you that caffeine is going to kill you or that cholesterol is going to kill you or that that green tea is what you gotta drink to stay alive. People are pounding this every day how we’re going to die and yet the life expectancy keeps going up. American exceptionalism, Obama is just ripping it to shreds, tearing it down, and in essence saying it never did exist. We weren’t and aren’t exceptional. We’re imperialist thugs. We torture people. We’re closing Guantanamo Bay, we’re getting out of Iraq, we are destroying the planet, he says. Our lifestyle, our SUVs, our carbon footprint is destroying the world, the climate. The man is a kook and he is a menace and he is purposely attacking the very foundations and institutions that made this the greatest country on earth. And he’s inspiring our enemies at the United Nations to agree with him and speak up even louder.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Burn in Salt Lake City. I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hello, Rush. Primo dittos. Lived 20 years in New Madrid.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much. By the way, New Madrid is a little town south of where I grew up. It’s the site of the New Madrid fault. They’re worried about an earthquake there someday that rivals the San Andreas. But I wanted you to know what New Madrid was because some of you might have thought he was talking Spain and didn’t know how to say Madrid. There is actually a place in Missouri called New Madrid. You don’t want to go there but it does exist. Okay, back to the call.

CALLER: Yes, sir, I escaped. Michael Moore has his new movie coming out Capitalism, and yesterday the president of Bolivia called capitalism evil. I’m ready to give up. Okay, it’s evil, it’s horrible. Can somebody name one thing that works better? Anything?

RUSH: No. But, you see, the problem with capitalism is it doesn’t empower government and it doesn’t empower people who run government.

CALLER: I don’t really care about that, Rush. I just want to be okay. So if capitalism is so evil, and if everything that we’re doing is wrong, what are we going to do that’s better?

RUSH: Obama! You don’t get it. Obama is going to make it all better.

CALLER: I guess I don’t, Rush. I got a couple things for you. I got one other thing. I called the DNC and asked them how — my wife has chronic health issues and I don’t have insurance. So I asked them specifically, how is this gonna work for me, how is it better for me? Can you name one government program that’s not full of waste, fraud, and abuse? Can you name one government program that is run efficiently? And the lady said, ‘Is that a question?’ And I said, ‘Yes, ma’am, it is.’ She said, ‘Just a moment.’ She forwarded me to the White House.

RUSH: (laughing.)

CALLER: To the White House, Rush.

RUSH: The DNC couldn’t answer your question, they forwarded you to the White House.

CALLER: To the White House. Let me transfer your call to the White House.

RUSH: What did they tell you?

CALLER: Oh, nothing. It was just a comment line there.

RUSH: Oh, so you didn’t even get to talk to a human being, they passed you off to a machine.

CALLER: I called Nancy Pelosi’s office and it went right to voice mail and my first thing I said, ‘My God you sure have your finger on the pulse of your constituents.’

RUSH: You mentioned Pelosi. Before I went to the golf course yesterday I went by the Universal theme park out here at Universal Studios, and I ran into the shark from Jaws, and the shark from Jaws told me he’s thinking of suing Pelosi for copyright infringement.

Rudy, South Bend, Indiana, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello, sir.

CALLER: Rush, how are you today?

RUSH: Well, I was in DC last weekend, I went by the Lincoln Memorial and I swear Lincoln’s face in the memorial moves more than Pelosi’s does. Yes, Rudy, what’s up?

CALLER: Hey, listen, I was listening to Obama’s speech today and he was talking about the fact that the United States is ready for some international cooperation. Well, to heck with cooperation. What cooperation really means is we’re going to sit on our hands and look around at each other and wait for somebody else to do something. What the world needs to be ready for is the United States to lead. Leadership gets things done. Cooperation, at least Obama’s version of cooperation, has never gotten anything done.

RUSH: Well, depending on whose perspective. I think this whole notion of cooperation is absurd, as you do. But I still don’t know what the objective is here. I know Obama is educated but I don’t know how smart he is. There are people from his side of the aisle, people on the left who really believe that if we just show our enemies that we really don’t dislike them, we don’t harbor any ill will against them, and we’re not George Bush anymore and we’re not the old United States, that somehow they’re going to turn around and like us. And that’s, frankly, just absurd. The people that he’s going to behave that way to are going to rub their hands together in glee, and they’re going to say, ‘What a sap we have to deal with.’ I wonder, ‘Does Obama know that? Is there some other agenda?’ Because clearly, for whatever reasons — and they’re diabolical, no matter which reasons you analyze — whatever reasons, he is purposely deconstructing this country and taking the elements of greatness out of it.

Now, is he doing this because he thinks this will promote world peace, other countries will like us, or is he doing it simply because he despises the country as it was founded? It really doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that he’s doing it in general, but I’ll tell you, regardless his reason, it is weakening our security, it is making us far more vulnerable. Remember, Osama Bin Laden granted an interview to the guy now with the FBI, used to be with ABC News, John Miller, and Osama Bin Laden told John Miller, (paraphrasing) ‘When we saw you cut-and-run, when the United States and Bill Clinton pulled outta Somalia, that’s when we knew you’re not ready to bleed for your country anymore. You’re not willing to fight for your country. That’s when we knew you’re a paper tiger.’ I mean I’m paraphrasing, but people who are hell-bent on evil — and there are lots of them out there; we are a nation at great risk in a dangerous world — are not going to be mellowed and tamed by some smart-sounding academic running around apologizing to them for all the evils his country perpetrated before he assumed office.

I’m back to imagining I go to the UN, I give a speech and I’m followed by Moammar Khadafy who endlessly praises me and asks that I remain president forever, and here’s a guy, a well-known terrorist murdering thug who celebrates with gigantic hero welcomes the guy who blew up the Pan Am flight, the Lockerbie Pan Am flight, I wouldn’t be happy about that. I’d be mad, I would be worried. If I were a Democrat Senate majority leader or if I’m the Democrat speaker of the House and I hear the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, basically parroting everything I say about the United States, we’re causing the world to come to an end because of global warming and all this rot, I’d be very worried that totalitarian thugs and dictators sound like me. If I were Barack Obama, I would not be happy that somebody like Fidel Castro is singing my praises. Yet, that’s what’s happening. If I were Barack Obama, if I were president, I would not want to be caught dead in a picture laughing, smiling, and yukking it up with Hugo Chavez. I wouldn’t be caught being given a book by Daniel Ortega. But Obama did all of that.