RUSH: Here’s our Obama bumper sticker. He’s ‘going to make government cool again.’ This was Columbia University, the Service Nations Presidential Candidates Forum. Judy Woodruff was the moderator. She said to Obama, ‘So much is said that’s critical about the people that are in Washington, the way Washington works, bureaucrats in Washington. How much responsibility do you think you and other presidential candidates this year have to change the rhetoric so that people who work in government, work in public service are respected.’
OBAMA: If it weren’t for government, then we wouldn’t have a, uh, Civil Rights Act. If it weren’t for government, we would not have the Interstate Highway System. If it weren’t for government, uh, we would not have some of our parks and, uh, natural, uh, wilderness areas that are so precious to America. And so part of my job, I think, as president is to make government cool again. (rimshot)
RUSH: Make government cool again? All these great things, the parks and so forth. You know, the nature of the question is pretty interesting to me. But here’s a guy. He’s running for change? His ‘change’ now is to make government cool again? I was cool before government? This is why, when they want to try to make Obama newsworthy, he’s not newsworthy. (laughs) His statements are not newsworthy. Do you know how they cringe? Make government cool again, our great parks? Here’s how McCain answered it. Judy Woodruff said, ‘Senator McCain, Senator Obama has put forward a national service plan to do some of the things you’ve talked about. The two of you agree, but his has a price tag around three and a half billion. Is that an amount of money you’d be willing to spend, more or less? I mean is that in the ballpark?’
MCCAIN: I think there are very good proposals there. Some of them are new, some of them are obviously not. But I also want to emphasize, it doesn’t always have to be run by the government. That’s why we also ought to understand that faith-based organizations, other volunteer organizations that are completely separate from the government — that have nothing to do with the government — are amongst the most successful. So let’s not get entrapped by the idea that the government has to run these voluntary organizations and volunteer kinds of programs, because a lot of times the job can be done better with our encouragement.
RUSH: Yeah, with us not being there. A good answer. I like that. But Obama? We need to make bumper stickers out of this. ‘I’m gonna make government cool again.’ Who knew that Obama had such a high regard for small town mayors? It seems to me that I recall him making fun of Sarah Palin for being a mayor of such a small town. Richard Stengel was the co-moderator. He said to Obama, ‘We asked McCain the same question about Governor Palin’s belittling being a community organizer. Did the Democrats in return belittle being a small town mayor? Was she being unfair or was it hypocritical because Republicans actually say…?’ What the hell kind of question is this? Here’s what he said about mayors.
OBAMA: Well, listen, we — we had an awful lot of small town mayors at the Democratic, uh, convention, I assure you. Uhhh, I — I meet ’em all the time, and I have, eh — The mayors have some of the toughest jobs in the country, because that’s where the rubber hits the road. You know, we yak in the Senate. (rimshot) They actually have to fill potholes and, uh, duh, duh — trim trees and — and, uh, uh, make sure the garbage is — is, uh, taken way.
RUSH: Wow, am I overwhelmed! I am dazzled! This guy’s grasp of the job that mayors have is just amazing. Did it stun you, too? It leaves me speechless. This guy, folks, knows far more than I ever thought he knew. Why, he knows that mayors fill the potholes and trim the trees and make sure the garbage is taken away! Wow! So now he likes small town mayors. Now he explains why he was so noble to become a street agitator instead of making evil money.
OBAMA: I was surprised by the — several remarks around community organizing and — and belittling it. Ummm, you know, when I think about the choice I made as a 23-, 24-year-old to spend three years working with churches to help people help themselves. Uh, no insult to the president of this fine institution, but it was the best education I ever had because it taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they’re given a chance and when they’re brought together.
RUSH: Now he’s stealing my lines! That’s my line: ‘ordinary people can do extraordinary things.’ That’s not what liberals believe. Liberals don’t believe that’s possible. I want to see the ordinary people that became extraordinary as a result of his tutelage as the community organizer. You know, we don’t hear about any of the people that have worked with Obama. We don’t hear about his classmates in college, either at Harvard or at law school, or anywhere he’s been. We don’t hear about these wonderful stories with his mentorship, how these ordinary people in the streets of Chicago became extraordinary people and did extraordinary things. We don’t hear any kind of testimony. We don’t hear anybody attesting to the greatness of Barack Obama. Liberals don’t even believe this anyway — ‘ordinary people can do extraordinary things.’ If they wanted to promote that kind of thing, there would be no need for liberalism. Liberalism keeps people down. Liberalism keeps a foot on their back so they can’t get up. But he wasn’t doing this, anyway. Community organizing in Chicago is simply getting out the vote, working with ACORN, one of the most voter registration agitation organizations in the country. This is all smoke and mirrors about what he did as a community organizer. It was just prep work for becoming a Chicago thug politician.