Republicans Waiting for Obama to Reach Out? Really?
Feb 19, 2013
RUSH: This is David in Decatur, Illinois. I’m glad you called, sir. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I appreciate it.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: Hey, the sequester, it’s gonna take effect, they say, next week. And I hear Obama say today that the unemployment rate’s gonna tick up. My question to you, sir, is this. When did it tick down? Aren’t we still hovering around 7.8, 7.9%?
RUSH: No, it ticked down right before the election. You know, it was at 8.2, 8.3, and it started going down all during 2012, and right before the election it dipped down to exactly what it was when Obama took office. At least the rate, 7.8. But, look, the sequester, folks, is $85 billion. Half of that is defense. So let’s say $42 billion is going to cause all of this disaster that he predicted. And yet we’re spending $50 billion on Sandy, Hurricane Sandy relief. I think it’s time everybody, particularly on the Republican side, got a grip here and fully understood exactly what they’re dealing with and what Obama’s modus operandi is.
For example, grab audio sound bite number three. This is Obama, this is the final sound bite that we have from Obama, first day back from vacation, unprovoked, nobody did anything to him, nobody insulted him, nobody said a word, but he had to strike out at the Republicans and defame them and impugn them. And this is the last thing that he said today.
OBAMA: So my door’s open. I put tough cuts and reforms on the table. I’m willing to work with anybody to get this job done. None of us will get a hundred percent of what we want. But nobody should want these cuts to go through because the last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily by partisan recklessness and ideological rigidity here in Washington. As I said at the State of the Union, the American people have worked too hard, too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause yet another one.
RUSH: Now, I think, were it not so masterfully presented, this actually is a deranged mind here. “My door is open. I put tough cuts and reforms on the table.” He’s not. There aren’t any cuts, folks, and there never are any cuts, and there haven’t been, and he certainly hasn’t proposed any. “I’m willing to work with anybody to get this job done.” No, he says this every crisis, every issue, every piece of legislation, “I’m willing to work with anybody.” And he doesn’t. “None of us will get a hundred percent of what we want.” That’s standard boilerplate, and that’s aimed right at the low-information voter who is obsessed with compromise and bipartisanship. And so here Obama’s simply telling them that he wants what they want.
“Hey, you know, nobody gets a hundred percent of everything. I’m willing to compromise. I’m willing to give up some stuff,” but then, in the next sentence, “but nobody should want these cuts to go through.” Well, that’s all we’re talking about here. That’s all the sequester is, is cuts, and the sequester is his idea. If he’s willing to work and nobody’s gonna get a hundred percent of what we want, then nobody should want these cuts, since all we’re talking about is cuts. The compromise is that the cuts not happen, which is not a compromise. But my point, look, this isn’t about compromise. There is no common ground.
There is no area of overlay where what Obama wants overlays what the Republicans want. There isn’t any commonality here, by design. That’s not what’s happening. This is all BS. This is all positioning. This is all Obama campaigning, not governing. This is Obama running against the real powerful forces in this country, and it isn’t him. It’s these mysterious Republicans. These unnamed, faceless people behind the curtains who want you to get cancer, who don’t want your kids to have flu shots or health care, who want your kids’ teachers fired. And he is the valiant gladiator attempting to stop all that from happening. And, of course, the Republicans don’t want any of it. And the sad reality is, a majority of the American people don’t want any of this, and they’re getting it.
The American people want none of it, but they’re getting it. But the problem is they don’t associate Obama as having any relationship to what’s happening. They all say in polls, they don’t like the direction of the country. They all say they disagree with his agenda, but they approve of the job he’s doing. There’s this huge disconnect, and the only way to understand it is that American voters do not associate Obama’s agenda with what’s happening. They don’t associate any of his policies with job loss or unemployment. They don’t associate any of his policies with anything going wrong in the economy. And he couldn’t make that happen without a compliant, totally salivating, slavish puppet mastered media. And that’s exactly what’s going on.
So here we have a Politico story: “GOP Senators Waiting for Obama’s Outreach.” Republican Senators Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, are waiting for the phone to ring, the story says. After all of his talk about bipartisanship, they are expecting Obama to reach across the aisle? He’s waiting for them to call him. (imitating Obama) “My door’s open. I put tough cuts and reforms on the table. My door’s open. I’m waiting for somebody to call me.” They’re waiting for him to call them.
They want it known that they’re willing to compromise. They’re being suckered so fast, so bad, so good, it’s breathtaking to behold this. “GOP Senators Waiting for Obama’s Outreach.” I hope they’re not holding their breath. Now, I hope this is just a story. I hope they realize that bipartisan cooperation is the last thing Obama wants. I hope they realize that the sequester happening is Christmas morning for him. Defense budget cut, major, big time. And Head Start cut, blame the Republicans for all of it. I hope they realize what’s really going on.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Will in Amanda, Ohio. Welcome to the EIB Network. Great to have you here. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, thanks for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: Hey, you’ve gotta relax a little bit. I mean, we’ve been $85 billion a month out of thin air for a long time now. It’s called QE3. All we have to do is call it QE3 enhanced, print another $85 billion, and it’s all good. Why not. I mean, we’re doing this every month. We’re having this big fight over one budget cut? We’re printing this much every month.
RUSH: We’re not. That’s what I’m trying to convey, that it’s not about that at all. What Obama is doing here is effectively trying to just wipe out any opposition. This whole diatribe today is not about the budget. He’s further defining his opposition for people, for low-information voters. I mean, we’re spending $50 billion on Sandy. It’s not about the money. He’s lying through his teeth about this. This is pure defamation. This is something far different than a budget dispute, and I’m sorry if I have not made that clear.
CALLER: No, but it’s $85 billion a month that we’re printing out of thin air every month, anyway, Rush. Why don’t we just solve all our problems, print an extra $85 billion because QE3’s going on endlessly anyway. It’s just an extra month. See what I’m saying? This whole argument’s ridiculous with what we’re doing now buying these derivative default swaps.
RUSH: Well, look, this is another point as well. The Democrats and Obama set the daily narrative, and the Republicans and everybody fall into the trap of discussing it, and that’s why we go crisis to crisis to crisis, and I’m trying to convey, as I said at the outset, I’m not gonna parse this the way we normally do because it’s not about this. There’s something else entirely going on here, and it’s not about $85 billion. It’s not about QE3 or any of this other stuff. It’s far more hideous than that, what’s happened.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I guess the best way, folks, to try to categorize this whole thing, Obama’s appearance today, it’s not about the sequester. This is about defining who his enemy is, lying about them. This is about wiping them out. This is about the House in 2014. That’s the next big thing everybody’s looking at here.
They want it known that they’re willing to compromise. They’re being suckered so fast, so bad, so good, it’s breathtaking to behold this. “GOP Senators Waiting for Obama’s Outreach.” I hope they’re not holding their breath. Now, I hope this is just a story. I hope they realize that bipartisan cooperation is the last thing Obama wants. I hope they realize that the sequester happening is Christmas morning for him. Defense budget cut, major, big time. And Head Start cut, blame the Republicans for all of it. I hope they realize what’s really going on.
