{"id":17032,"date":"2011-12-20T17:55:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T17:55:46","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-12-20T17:55:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T17:55:46","slug":"2012_a_referendum_on_obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/12\/20\/2012_a_referendum_on_obama\/","title":{"rendered":"2012: A Referendum on Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: It\u2019s this simple, ladies and gentlemen. I don\u2019t care what you hear from now until Election Day, I don\u2019t care what kind of BS that you hear, I would rather be us than them. There is simply no way to defend Obama\u2019s record. There\u2019s no way to run on that record. There\u2019s no way that Obama can run around and say, “four more years.” There is no way Obama can positively say, “You\u2019re better off now than when I assumed office,” there\u2019s nothing positive. In fact, they\u2019re gonna be heading for this unemployment number, 8% — since when is that tolerable? That\u2019s even being set up. That\u2019s why all this talk this past year about 9% whatever being the new norm. “Oh, yeah, well, you know, Rush, globalization and the way the economies of the world are shaking out and that\u2019s something the American people I think need to prepare themselves for, adjust themselves psychologically, economically nine, 9%, nine and a half percent, pretty much gonna be the new norm.” It\u2019s what they\u2019ve said. They\u2019ve been conditioned. <\/p>\n

So 8% is supposed to look good. Full employment. Remember, in 2007 we\u2019re at 4.7% unemployment. George W. Bush, 2006 for sure, 2007, maybe it got up to five-something. But 8%, since when that is tolerable? The battle, ladies and gentlemen, will be whether Obama is able to change the subject from his presidency and his record to something else. He is gonna try, they\u2019re already doing that. They\u2019re already trying. The question is the battle will be whether he\u2019s able to get away with it. We know he\u2019ll be able to get away with it in the media.<\/line><\/p>\n

I saw Governor Christie. He was on Scarborough\u2019s show today, and he was explaining why he\u2019s not in favor of Newt Gingrich getting the nomination. He said, (paraphrasing) “Well, you know, I like Newt, he\u2019s a good guy, but I\u2019m just afraid that if Newt is the nominee, then Newt will become the subject of the campaign, and we need Obama to be the subject of the campaign.” Governor Christie, I have to tell you, it doesn\u2019t matter who our nominee is, they are going to be the subject of the campaign. If you think, if anybody thinks that Romney<\/a> is going to be treated with kid gloves… what do you think Occupy Wall Street was put together for? To nail Romney. I mean the idea that we could pick a name that they\u2019re gonna leave alone, that\u2019s not correct. So whether it\u2019s Newt, it\u2019s Bachmann, Perry, Santorum, Romney, the subject is going to be that person. That\u2019s what the campaign\u2019s gonna be about. The media will see to it.<\/p>\n

Our battle is gonna make sure they\u2019re not able to change that subject, that it remains a referendum on Obama. Because the party with the weakest candidate is the party with Obama at the head of it. That\u2019s the party with the weakest candidate because it is Barack Obama who is the weakest candidate out there. What do the Democrats have to do? They\u2019ve got a monumental charge here. They have to defend a large majority of the Senate seats that are up, plus Obama, they have to defend Obama. And what have they done? They have no budget. They have not done one thing towards deficit reduction. Despite what they say they have not done one thing toward job creation. Exactly the opposite, in fact. They have blown up the deficit. They have blown up the debt. They have lost two million plus jobs, just erased. And the nation\u2019s being pushed into a downward spiral, and they proudly claim that they are managing the decline. They have nothing positive to say about themselves or anybody else. They\u2019re defeatists, they\u2019re losers, we just have to keep them in that corner.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I referenced this earlier in the program. This is Governor Christie. He is on Scarborough\u2019s show on PMSNBC today, and he\u2019s talking to Mika Brzezinski. He told Mika he is very disappointed in her, that she used to be down the middle of the road, but now she\u2019s gone full tilt leftist and he\u2019s disappointed. The guest panelist here was TIME Magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin, and he said to Governor Christie, “What have you heard from your fellow Republican governors and other leading Republicans at what would happen if Newt Gingrich were at the top of the ticket?”<\/p>\n

CHRISTIE: I think that the problem for us if Speaker Gingrich were at the top is that the election would be about Speaker Gingrich and not about the president. And I think as Republicans, this election has to be first and foremost about the president. And I think this Speaker just can\u2019t help himself but to make himself the center of attention all the time with the comments that he makes. And as a result, even though while some of his ideas I think are fine, I think some of them aren\u2019t, and, in the end, he\u2019s gonna carry so much of that into election that, you know, the election\u2019s gonna be about Newt Gingrich and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good thing for our party.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: This is the classic error that moderate Republicans make, the classic Republican moderate error. They think that being a moderate buys them something with the media. What Christie is saying here, “Oh, they won\u2019t talk about Mitt. They won\u2019t be mean to Romney. Romney won\u2019t make the campaign about him. Romney is not an ego maniac. Romney is not gonna run around and say stupid stuff. Romney is a pretty bland guy, so with Romney as the nominee, everybody knows the campaign will be about Obama.” Really? That\u2019s not how it works. <\/p>\n

Now, if anybody knows anything at all about making one\u2019s self-the center of attention, it would be Governor Christie. Governor Christie knows how to do it. Governor Christie likes being the center of attention, and he can handle it. So can Newt. But the idea that, “Well, we can\u2019t have Newt because that means Newt\u2019s all anybody will be talking about.” And see, the classic thing is, “We\u2019ll nominate a moderate, media likes us moderates. The media likes us. They will not be mean to us.” It doesn\u2019t work that way. Classic, classic Republican moderate error. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: It\u2019s this simple, ladies and gentlemen. I don\u2019t care what you hear from now until Election Day, I don\u2019t care what kind of BS that you hear, I would rather be us than them. There is simply no way to defend Obama\u2019s record. There\u2019s no way to run on that record. There\u2019s no way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n2012: A Referendum on Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/12\/20\/2012_a_referendum_on_obama\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"2012: A Referendum on Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: It\u2019s this simple, ladies and gentlemen. 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