Brokaw & Rose: Who Is Obama?

RUSH: Now, on Charlie Rose Show last night on PBS. Are they doing their pledge drive yet? Is PBS doing their drive? Because, you know, ‘Without your Pledge, we cannot dust.’ He had on Tom Brokaw last night, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s a montage. Now, this is last night. As you listen to this, keep in mind everything you’ve heard from Brokaw and others in the Drive-Bys can for the past six months, three months, two months or whatever. This is a montage of Charlie Rose and Brokaw trying to figure out who Obama is.

ROSE: I don’t know what Barack Obama’s worldview is.

BROKAW: No, I don’t, either.

ROSE: I don’t know how he really sees where China is.

BROKAW: We don’t know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.

ROSE: I don’t really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?

BROKAW: Yeah, it’s an interesting question.

ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational (sic) speeches.

BROKAW: Two of them! I don’t know what books he’s read.

ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?

BROKAW: There’s a lot about him we don’t know.

RUSH: Incredible! (laughing) Let’s send the journalist to find out! Why, have you guys ever thought of that, Tom? Have you ever thought about sending a reporter to find out who the guy is? Charlie! You got plenty of reporters there at PBS, at least on the… Have you ever thought about sending anybody out to find out who he is, besides the two books? (laughing) I cannot believe this. We know who his heroes are — and, of course, that’s the point! We know who his heroes are. We know who his alliances are with. We know who his friends are. We know that he chose them all. But to hear… This is last night. This is, what, four days, five days before the election. These are two of Obama’s biggest media supporters! You gotta… I gotta hear this again. This is hilarious if it weren’t so damn maddening, because the answer to this is, ‘Hey, Tom? Talk to the bureau chief in Washington, the new guy who replaced Russert. What you do is, you assign a reporter to go out and find out who Obama is.’

ROSE: I don’t know what Barack Obama’s worldview is.

BROKAW: No, I don’t, either.

ROSE: I don’t know how he really sees where China is.

BROKAW: We don’t know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.

ROSE: I don’t really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?

BROKAW: Yeah, it’s an interesting question.

ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational (sic) speeches.

BROKAW: Two of them! I don’t know what books he’s read.

ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?

BROKAW: There’s a lot about him we don’t know.

RUSH: Well, we know one of his heroes is a member of the Communist Party, Frank Davis. He mentored him in Hawaii. There’s a lot we know, Tom. (laughing) Does this not ice it? Does this not ice…? We know as much as can be known about Obama, far more than he wants us to know, and here are these two pillars of Drive-By journalism. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s an interesting question, Charlie. It’s an interesting question.’ (laughing) I just think this is… ‘That’s true.’ Two pillars of journalism, one has an audience and one doesn’t, but it doesn’t matter. They’re both still pillars. Hey, Tom, Charlie, I think we can help here about his view of China. This was last night on MSNBC, and he was asked this question, Obama was. ‘Is there a possibility you could see in your first term if elected and we need an economic stimulus, an FDR style public works program?’

OBAMA: I’ve actually talked about this. I think we have to rebuild our infrastructure. Look at what China’s doing right now. They, uh, er, uh — Their trains are faster than us. Their ports are better than us. They are preparing for a very competitive Twenty-First Century economy, and we’re not.

RUSH: Okay, Charlie? Tom? You just heard Obama say after you’re wondering where he is on China, he thinks they’re better than us! And, by the way, to be grammatically correct it would be ‘better than we.’ You don’t say ‘better than us are.’ You say ‘better than we are.’ The trains run on time? All this infrastructure? Look at the infrastructure that cannot handle a .0001 earthquake! Basically a giant taking a couple of steps will crap some buildings over there. But here’s Barack Obama singing, once again, the praises of China, a communist country — and what? Criticizing the United States. It was an interesting point. It was a very interesting point to an interesting question. Tom Brokaw said it was ‘an interesting question,’ What is his attitude on China, the people advising him. Here it is. He loves China, he thinks the United States sucks. Barack Obama, last night on PMSNBC.