RUSH: Bobby Jindal has a new book out. I have a copy of it autographed right over there. Bobby Jindal’s got a great new book and he blasts Obama in this book over the BP oil spill. ‘Jindal uses a new book to portray President Barack Obama as disconnected from the Gulf oil spill, charging that he was more focused on the political aftermath than the actual impact of the crisis,’ and if there’s anybody that knows, it’s Bobby Jindal because it was his state that was under assault by Obama and the federal government.
‘Jindal recounts a pair of private conversations with the president that paint him as consumed with how his actions were being perceived. On Obama’s first trip to Louisiana after the disaster, the governor describes how the president took him aside on the tarmac after arriving to complain about a letter that Jindal had sent to the administration requesting authorization for food stamps for those who had lost their jobs because of the spill. As Jindal describes it, the letter was entirely routine, yet Obama was angry and concerned about looking bad.’ (imitating Obama) ‘You don’t embarrass me by sending me a letter asking for food stamps. I know enough to provide ’em. You don’t need to make me look like I have no heart and no compassion.’
”Careful,’ he quotes the president as warning him, ‘this is going to get bad for everyone,” if you make it look like I don’t care about people. ‘Nearby on the tarmac, Jindal recalls, then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was chewing out his own chief of staff, Timmy Teepell. ‘If you have a problem pick up the f-ing phone,’ Jindal quotes Emanuel telling Teepell. The governor asserts that the White House had tipped off reporters to watch the exchange on the New Orleans tarmac that Sunday in May and deemed it a ‘press stunt’ that symbolized what’s wrong with Washington.’ So the press had been tipped off by Obama, ‘We’re gonna get off the plane and we’re gonna tell these people in Louisiana what-for. And that’s what it was made to look like, and Jindal writes about it in the book. And he talks about how this is symbolism over substance. Nothing’s different here with this bunch. In the meantime, Obama’s got a drilling moratorium in place that’s costing tens of thousands of jobs. We know what we’re dealing with. Jindal writes: ‘Political posturing becomes more important than reality.’ Bingo!
Back after this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: One more story from my autographed copy of Bobby Jindal’s book that’s a sitting right over there on my sofa.
After Obama instituted a moratorium on offshore drilling, Jindal recounts that the president dismissed his concerns about the economic impact of the ban. ‘I understand you need to say all of this, I know you need to say this, that you are facing political pressure,’ Jindal quotes Obama telling him.’ I understand you need to talk about the job losses. I know you need to talk about how all this, the moratorium, is affecting you. ‘When [Jindal] said he was concerned about people losing their jobs,’ he was really concerned about it. Not just ‘having to say it,’ he was really concerned about it, ‘he said the president cited national polls showing that people supported the ban.’ I don’t care, Governor. People might be losing their jobs, but I got national polling data says that the American people support the drilling moratorium.
Jindal writes, ‘The human element seemed invisible to the White House.’ Now, they’re not gonna like that, ’cause this is what liberals rely on is this ‘human element.’ They care, they are good people, and Jindal recounts a story where Obama didn’t give a rat’s rear end that Louisiana people were out of work. He’s cold and aloof, like walking past your wife on the stage after she makes you look like the best human to ever walk the planet. He’s cold and aloof, not cool. Asked by Politico ‘to respond to Jindal’s assertions, Obama aides didn’t directly address either conversation but pointed to the president’s overall response to the spill. ‘From Day One, President Obama has directed his administration to work with state and local governments to respond to and help Gulf communities recover from the BP oil spill,’ said White House spokesman Adam Abrams.’
No, they didn’t. They didn’t get involved ’til day 53!