Liberal Jim Cramer Sees the Light

RUSH: Let me read to you some excerpts of Jim Cramer, Mad Money, CNBC on a website called MainStreet.com entitled, ‘My Response to the White House — Now some, including Rush Limbaugh, would say I am on another enemies list: that of the White House. Limbaugh says there are only a handful of us on it, and if I am on it for defending all of the shareholders out there, then I am in good company. Limbaugh — whom I do not know personally, but having been in radio myself, know professionally as a genius of the medium — says, ‘They’re going to shut Cramer up pretty soon, too, but he’ll go down with a fight.’ Limbaugh is dead right. I am a fight-not-flight guy, so I was on my hackles when I heard White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ answer to a question about my pointed criticism of the president on multiple venues, including the Today Show.’ Here’s what Cramer said about this (audio sound bite 15) last night on his CNBC show Mad Money.

CRAMER: I know Rush Limbaugh today said that I was on the White House enemies list and that they would try to silence me but I would put up a good fight. And let me tell you, I am really more of a fight-than-flight guy, for those of you who know my personal life.

RUSH: Jim Cramer is a liberal Democrat. He said this: ‘I had been a relentless critic of the Bush administration’s ‘stewardship’ of the economy, calling repeatedly for changes to avert the disaster that I saw coming … But Obama has undeniably made things worse by creating an atmosphere of fear and panic rather than an atmosphere of calm and hope. He’s done it by pushing a huge amount of change at a very perilous moment, by seeking to demonize the entire banking system and by raising taxes for those making more than $250,000… I also made it clear in a New York magazine article that I favored Obama over McCain because I thought Obama to be a middle-of-the-road Democrat…’ Jim, I love you, but this really dumbfounds me.

It dumbfounds me on a lot of levels for a lot of people. How in the world anybody could have ever mistaken Obama for a middle-of-the-road, triangulating, above-politics kind of guy…? He was lying when he said he was going to get past the politics of usual. He’s going to get past the bipartisan. He was gonna get past all the fighting and we’re gonna be one. The sea levels are going to sink by four feet and we’re going to have peace. Love for the country is going to be back. All of that crap during the campaign! I don’t understand — and Cramer’s a smart guy, and David Brooks is a smart guy. Christopher Buckley is a smart guy. I don’t just mean educated. How in the world do you not see a liberal when he’s two inches in front of you? How do you look past it?

You have to have hope. You have to hope the guy ain’t liberal ’cause there are other things about him you like, like that he can talk — and now we know it’s a teleprompter! The New York Times even has a story making fun of his teleprompter use today, when he introduced Kathleen Sebelius. The White House is doing it. The New York Times has a story that it’s never seen that before. They do it under the guise of: his remarks are scripted; they never vary; they never wander. Their point is that Obama is so brilliantly on message. It’s not it. You let him ad-lib and it’s a risk. It’s an accident waiting to happen. When Kathleen Sebelius got up to accept the nomination, teleprompter screens descended and she started joking, ‘Oh, where are they going? Where are they going?’ Obama said, ‘They’re for me. For me!’

Jim… ‘I favored Obama over McCain because I thought Obama to be a middle-of-the-road Democrat…’ (groans) One of the most frustrating things in my life and my work in political things is the seeming resistance people have to understanding what liberalism is. Obama wouldn’t have had a chance. Of course, McCain wouldn’t call him a liberal. We wouldn’t call him anything, because everybody’s panicked and paranoid of charges of racism. Anyway, Cramer says, ‘If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general…’ Listen to this. Jim Cramer, a guy who supported, urged everybody else to support and voted for Obama. ‘If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists — tens of millions of people who live in fear of having no money saved when they need it and who get poorer by the day.’ Jim Cramer acknowledges the mind-set that exists. That’s who Obama’s talking to when he says, ‘I haven’t forgotten you.’ Those of us who listen to Obama say that, our retort is, ‘Please forget us.’