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RUSH: I want you to listen to Obama. This is how out of touch this man is. This is irresponsible what he said last night. He was on the PBS NewsHour. It used to be with Jim Lehrer, and now it’s with Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill, and Judy Woodruff says, “You have a reputation, Mr. President, for being pretty cool, detached.

“But standing there at the Lincoln Memorial, at the place where Dr. King stood, looking out over that big crowd, that had to be emotional. What were you thinking?” I want you to listen to this. Here is the president of the United States on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the one of the greatest speeches ever at that place, and he’s been asked what he wasn’t thinking about as he stood there on that moment, at that moment on that occasion, looking out over that crowd. Listen to this.

OBAMA: Most of all what I was thinking about was just what I talked about in the speech. All these ordinary folks who did extraordinary things. There aren’t that many examples in American history, maybe even world history, where you see maids and seamstresses and porters and laborers who are able to fundamentally transform the most powerful country on earth.

RUSH: You know, folks, this is just so insulting to me. Those jobs that he described — maids, seamstresses, porters, and laborers — you know he’s thinking about African-Americans, and what he’s saying here is that all this exceptionalism out there hasn’t come from these people ’cause they’re discriminated against. He’s saying, “I feel sorry for ’em. They’ve never been able to fundamentally transform the most powerful country on earth, maids and porters.”

This is so damned insulting, it’s so unrealistic, it’s so blind.

Where does he think the great seamstresses of the day came from?

For crying out loud!

This is what I meant earlier. These people seem to think that the fry cook at McDonald’s has reached the glass ceiling. The porter, the maids, hit the glass ceiling. “Ordinary people doing extraordinary things” defines this country. It happens multiple times every day — and the president of the United States, who ought to be trying to inspire that, sits there on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s speech and basically tells people it isn’t possible, so he has to take over and run things so those people are dealt with fairly.

It’s the most insulting thing, it’s a put-down, and it’s abject ignorance about the country that he leads.

It’s just infuriating.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: That statement that Obama made about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, not too many maids, porters, seamstresses, or whatever the hell else that he talked about making it? Even if it were the case, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to be inspirational about it. Except I do understand. Obama doesn’t believe it’s possible in this country. That is the bottom line. You know, the fact of the matter is, before he was elected president, Barack Obama was an ordinary guy.

He didn’t do anything extraordinary.

Zilch, zero, nada.

In fact, Obama’s extraordinary today, not because of anything he’s done as president; it’s because he’s been a disaster. He’s extraordinary in the mere fact that he became president. Few people do that. But what has made him extraordinary is his utter disaster of an administration. He rose from do-nothing state senator, to do-nothing US senator, to where he is now — and there are reasons for it. We all know what it is. I’m not gonna get into it, but it is what it is.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Mark in Bowling Green, Ohio. Great to have you, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush, for taking my call. I’m a big fan. Hey, earlier you talked about what Obama was thinking about during the Martin Luther King anniversary. I just kind of wanted to offer a little bit different interpretative perspective. When he was talking about the butlers, the cooks, and the seamstresses fundamentally changing the world, I don’t think it was about the work they were doing, like Martin Luther King during the best speech he gave which you talked about today.

RUSH: Yes?

CALLER: I think he was talking about they fundamentally changed the world because they voted for him. It was all about him. Remember back in 2008 when he said, “We are based on fundamentally changing the world?”

RUSH: Yeah, well, he also said he was gonna fix all the problems that Bush left us with and he hasn’t done that either.

CALLER: Right, right.

RUSH: Well, let’s go back and let’s listen to the bite. That’s an interesting egoistical interpretation you are assigning to our esteemed young president. So let us grab audio sound bite number 10. So as you listen to this, keep in mind here that Mark from Bowling Green, Ohio, happens to think Obama is talking about himself

OBAMA: Most of all what I was thinking about was just what I talked about in the speech. All these ordinary folks who did extraordinary things. There aren’t that many examples in American history, maybe even world history, where you see maids and seamstresses and porters and laborers who are able to fundamentally transform the most powerful country on earth.

RUSH: So you think that he’s talking about how those people are now able to because they voted for him?

CALLER: Yeah, because I think any time he talks about “fundamentally changing the world,” it’s always in the context of supporting him.

RUSH: No… Well, yeah. But, I mean, it’s only he’s gonna transform it. He’s gonna transform America.

CALLER: Right. Well —

RUSH: So what you’re saying here, he’s looking out over all these people saying that their lives didn’t amount to diddly-squat until they voted for him?

CALLER: I don’t know I’d go that far. But I would say Martin Luther King would say what they did as a cook, as a seamstress, anything like that had value in itself because they did it the best they could. What he was saying is, “What they were doing had value, but what they really did to fundamentally change the world was they voted for me.”

RUSH: Wow. If it’s that, it’s worse than I thought. If that is the explanation for this.

CALLER: Remember with Trayvon Martin he comes out and says, “That could have been me!” I mean, there’s a million things you could say, but what does he bring it back to? He brings it back to himself.

RUSH: That’s true. I remember these two guys from Newsweek on the night of Obama’s election in 2008. They were analyzing Obama at Grant Park, and they said it was the first time a winning presidential candidate had gone out there and kicked his wife and kids off the stage. And then they said, “You know what? He’s watching us watch him! He’s up above us, and he’s watching us watch him.” So you’re saying that when Obama says, “There aren’t that many examples in American history — maybe even world history — where you see maids, seamstresses, porters, and laborers who were able to fundamentally transform the most powerful country on earth,” you think that he is saying they are now able to because they voted for him?

CALLER: Correct.

RUSH: Interesting.

CALLER: Just my thought.

RUSH: He is The One. Interesting. You know, I really gotta stop ’cause if that’s true this is a deeper, deeper case and problem than even I considered. I don’t know. He could have been… You know, do we have porters on trains anymore? Do we have porters in hotels? They do in the UK. Do we have porters in hotels anymore? So you’re saying this is Freudian, almost?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: I could be wrong, but I see a pattern here.

RUSH: Well, look, I will, as they say, take this under advisement, and I will tell you that Snerdley thinks you’re on to something, otherwise you would not have made it through the screening process. So one thing I know is that Snerdley agrees with you, and that makes me doubt you. Just being fair. Just being… (laughing) Okay.

“There aren’t that many examples in American history, maybe even world history, where you see maids, seamstresses, porters, and laborers who are able to fundamentally transform the most powerful country on earth. Most of all, that’s what I was thinking about, when I talked about in my speech.” Well, but they weren’t all there, the people that voted for him. There were barely 20,000 people there.

I don’t know. Look, I don’t know. And Oprah’s mother was a maid. And Eric Holder’s brother, uncle, something or other, came from… (interruption) Oprah’s there representing The Butler? You guys are off the beaten path. I just think if he’s that far gone — and I understand it’s entirely possible, but… I know. I’m fascinated by the way people think. Let me take that under consideration. I hadn’t thought of that, but I will.

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