RUSH: Here’s Linda in the high mountains of wherever. Where? The high mountains where, in New Mexico by any chance?
CALLER: Yes, New Mexico.
RUSH: Hi. Well, great to have you here. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Oh, I’m so nervous. Rush, over the past few years, the charge of racism if you were against the policies of the president, has been so odious and so hurtful to people that I believe this dramatic drop in his approval ratings simply reflects the fact that people are now willing to say their honest feelings about disapproval regarding the president. I think people are finally getting the courage and the confidence to state the truth of their feelings.
RUSH: Let me see, Linda, if I understand exactly what you’re saying.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: You’re saying that this approval number of Obama does not reflect a sudden change of heart. You think people have always, pretty much, or at least for years, have had this unfavorable view of Obama; it’s only now they feel safe in saying so?
CALLER: Exactly. I believe that’s exact truth. It wasn’t that long ago when I got awe phone call from the pollster, and I hung up, because I didn’t want even to say to the pollster that I was against Obama’s policies or against what he was doing because that charge of racism is just so hurtful. We’ve been hammered with it for years now, and just exactly like we said, I believe that these feelings have been here all the time. But now that the late-night comedians are starting to make jokes about Obamacare, the fact that some of the Democrats are distancing themselves from him, I think it’s making people like Margaret and some of these other folks have the courage to say their honest feelings.
RUSH: That’s interesting. However, if I may remind you, Margaret gave me the credit.
CALLER: Oh.
RUSH: For changing her mind, not the late night shows.
CALLER: I give you full credit, too, Rush.
RUSH: No, no. I’m just being me, being braggadociosly fun. I know what you mean. So you think that once the pop culture people that they like start making fun of Obama, then it’s okay to?
CALLER: Exactly. Exactly.
RUSH: This is interesting. So you really don’t think this is anything new. You don’t think it’s really tied to the failure of Obamacare per se, although it’s a factor. You think people have been negative toward Obama for a long time but were just afraid to say so?
CALLER: Well, I think that’s true, but I do think the colossal and huge and well publicized debacle of the health care is tied in. You know, the very fact that we’re now hearing negative things, hearing suspicions people coming right out and saying, “Perhaps Obama lied,” I think that does play into it.
RUSH: Well, you know, you could be on to something. This could well be a really great point. I mean, essentially what you’re saying is that the Wilder Effect has worn off.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: But I’m curious — seriously, now — did the pollster know he was talking to you?
CALLER: No. I think it was a random call. All they did was identify themselves as pollsters.
RUSH: So why were you afraid of what somebody you don’t know would think of you?
CALLER: I know, isn’t that strange? You know, afterwards I thought, “Why didn’t I have the courage?” But the truth of the matter is, ever since Obama was nominated, I have been very closed lipped. I haven’t told friends. I haven’t told people that I know. I’ve been very careful not to ever talk politics because we’re so hammered with this idea that we’re racists if we’re against his policies.
Like I say, it’s just odious; it’s very hurtful. I don’t think people realize what a strong charge that really is, how much it affects people who want to consider themselves good, decent Americans that are not racists. I don’t think people realize just how strong a charge that is, and I think it’s kept a lot of people — it can’t be just myself. It kept a lot of people very closed mouth about their real feelings, and now it’s gonna start to show up.
RUSH: Well, further buttressing your point is that if you go poll by poll and issue by issue, you find that most of Obama’s policies have been unpopular, some wildly unpopular. Obamacare has never been supported by a majority of people. The stimulus wasn’t. Policy by policy, where people had a chance to weigh in on that and not Obama, they were free to speak up. “What do you think of nationalized medicine?” I hate it. “What do you think of the government going into further debt to create jobs?” I hate it. But if Obama’s put in the question, your theory is people will clam up or say they don’t have a problem with it ’cause they don’t want to get anywhere near being lectured, ridiculed, or categorized as anti-black?
CALLER: Exactly. Exactly. I really do believe that is the case.
RUSH: Well, I think you might be on to something. There’s no question that, especially the charge of racism, if that one sticks to you, that’s hard to erase, it doesn’t leave, but I think you’re also right about something else. Most people don’t like controversy.
CALLER: True.
RUSH: They don’t like being part of it. They might like watching it, witnessing it and being entertained by it, but you don’t want to be in it. You don’t want to be thought of as controversial. You don’t want to be thought of as divisive or argumentative, so the best thing to do is shut up. I think you’re right. I think you’re describing actually quite a few people, a lot of people in that regard. People have their inner censors. They censor themselves privately based on external stimuli. It’s a self-protection type of behavior.
But now, for some reason, it has become okay, it has become socially acceptable to say that you don’t support Obama, that you disapprove of Obama. And I think if Linda here is right, this just further explains why they are terrified in the Democrat Party and on the left. ‘Cause, remember, everything they do, every survival mechanism they have is rooted in illusion, and once they lose that, you know, the Wizard of Oz. Once the curtain goes up and they’re exposed for who they really are, that’s trouble city, and that is right where they are. Linda, great call, thank you much.