RUSH: Okay. We got a call here waiting on Obama’s speech to the cadets but I want to get to the audio sound bites first. We’re gonna start here with Fareed Zakaria GPS. That is the name of his show, by the way, on CNN. Fareed Zakaria GPS. Global positioning satellite, which I guess helps Fareed know where he is when he’s doing the show. And he clearly lives in a fantasy world, in the tank totally for Obama. He was on Newsroom this morning with Carol Costello on CNN. Did you hear what she — you want to talk about a faux pas.
Yesterday, I believe it was, Carol Costello, who used to be the reporter assigned to stalk this program at CNN, then they gave her the anchorette job. She was talking about Moochelle Obama’s school lunch nutrition, anti-obesity, Washington’s-gonna-force-kids -to-eat-right program. And she said that Michelle Obama signed this into law. And Michelle Obama can’t sign anything into law.
(interruption) They’re saying, “Come on, she just misspoke. She knows that Michelle Obama doesn’t sign anything into law. She knows that only Obama can sign things into law.” And they’re being generous, because sometimes I misspeak. Everybody knows what I meant to say and they still can’t wait to correct me ’cause I’m not wrong very much. So when they think I’ve made a mistake, I mean, you would not believe, “You’re wrong, you’re wrong. You said, and it’s this,” and I knew it, and they know I knew it. (interruption)
I don’t really ever get anything wrong. I just misspeak. In her case, I’m gonna be generous, she knows that, but I’ll tell you what makes her make that mistake. She wouldn’t be bothered if Michelle Obama could sign something into law, is the point. It doesn’t matter, Michelle, Barack, the Obamas are in charge, and that’s what’s great. She wouldn’t be bothered if she found out that Michelle all of a sudden could sign legislation into law. Anyway, she spoke with Fareed Zakaria GPS in the Google driverless car. No brakes, no steering wheel, it sounds just like the Obama administration. And she said, “Fareed, I’m gonna put you on the spot right away.” This is before Obama’s commencement speech to the cadets. She said, “Fareed, is America weak?”
ZAKARIA: No. Gosh. America is stronger than perhaps at most points in its history. You think about, you know, when we faced the Soviet Union, when we faced a communist China that was funding revolutionary movements all over the world against us. Even when we faced a pretty powerful jihadi terrorist movement only 10 years ago, the United States is basically very strong, very secure. This debate is not really about American strength or weakness; it’s about American engagement. How should America engage with the world?
RUSH: Right. Okay, so, (imitating Zakaria) “Of course America’s stronger than perhaps at most points in history. Think about facing the Soviet Union, communist China, basically very strong, very secure. The debate is not really about America’s strength or weakness; it’s about American engagement. How should America engage with the world.” We are perceived as weak. You know they say in politics, perception is reality. And I guarantee you, with Obama drawing red lines all over the world and then daring people to cross ’em, and they do and nothing happens… You look at Putin and Ukraine and Putin and Crimea. And you look at the ChiComs basically having their way with whatever they want. I mean, we’re perceived as weak.
I don’t think — I’m being flat-out honest with you — all of the enemies that we face know full well what we’re capable of. The United States military — do not doubt something — the United States military is the most feared military in the world. The power that the United States is capable of projecting is formidable, and everybody around the world knows it, particularly our enemies. They often talk about, amongst themselves, what would happen if the sleeping giant is ever awakened.
The truth of the matter is that our enemies are not afraid. They are fully aware, but they perceive the United States to be weak, because it’s clear. I mean, they’ve met the president, they’ve dealt with him. They know full well that this is a president who’s not comfortable projecting the power the United States military has. They know full well that his threats are just words. They’re just empty. I mean, the other day the State Department with an emergency flash urging every American to get out of Libya. We’re running away from places. So the perception is that right now is the time to move on us.
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RUSH: Fareed Zakaria. Yeah, we faced the communist China funding revolutionary movements all over the world against us. Even when we faced a pretty powerful jihadi terrorist movement 10 years ago. So I guess we don’t face Islamic terrorism anymore, according to Fareed Zakaria GPS. Tell that to the Americans in Libya who were just told to flee the country by the State Department.
“Americans in Libya Told to ‘Depart Immediately’ Amid New Calls for Attacks Against US Citizens.” “What difference does it make anymore why we have to leave?” That ought to be the title of Hillary’s new book. Everybody is talking about her new book. You know, big whoop. You know, The Blue Stain would be a good working title. What difference does it make anyway? Or what difference does it make now? Folks, we’re reducing our nuke arsenal publicly, which is a huge mistake. If we’re actually doing it, do it, but to describe it in detail is a huge, huge mistake. But it is obvious that people we know to be our enemies are not really worried that we are going to project our power.
Obama shows up today at West Point and says we’re gonna be out of there, out of Afghanistan by this year. Date-certain stuff is never a sign of strength. Anyway, do I want to play one more? (muttering) Well, yeah, we may as well. Carol Costello said to Fareed Zakaria GPS, “Some might argue it’s easier to appear strong when you’re fighting one known enemy like Japan during World War II or Osama in Afghanistan after 9/11. But now the US is dealing with Russia, Syria, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda affiliated groups all over the world,” which of course in the previous bite Fareed Zakaria GPS just said we’re through fighting. “Should the president just focus on one or two of them, Fareed, or all of them? What should his foreign policy be?”
What an idiotic question. The world dictates. This is a world governed by the aggressive use of force. It always has been. The world dictates what the president focuses on. He doesn’t choose. “You know, in World War II, all we had to do was deal with Japan.” No, we didn’t. Have you ever heard of the European theater? What in the world is she thinking? “You know, like Japan, in World War II we were only fighting one enemy.” We’re dealing with Don Lemon Jr. here. First we have CNN asking somebody would an airplane vanish in a black hole, and now World War II we faced one enemy, Japan. And maybe that’s why we won, because we didn’t have to divert our attention, so maybe, Fareed, should Obama just pick one or two enemies and focus on them?
ZAKARIA: You might think of the Facebook term frenemy or, you know, some kind of in-between category where we have to be able to figure out a way to engage with the world, resist certain kinds of bad behavior, but at the same time not launch some kind of grand crusade. I think the president’s frustration comes from the fact that the critics seem to be saying, “You’re not doing enough, you’re weak, you’re giving in,” when I think his feeling is, “Well, I’m doing lots of things that are deeply engaged and take a lot of time, energy, and effort. What I’m not doing is using the military, and I’m going to be disciplined about that.”
RUSH: Right. So he’s not projecting any power. He’s not threatening to project power. He’s not projecting power so our foreign policy is sending Lurch all over the world to lecture people about how you’d engage in the twenty-first century. That’s it. That’s the extent of our foreign policy. Send John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, to go over and lecture all these bad guys on how they should behave in the twenty-first century and we’re not gonna put up with this twentieth century or nineteenth century crap anymore.
This is a folly, and we’ve got, again, ladies and gentlemen, real world. We don’t have people qualified for the positions they’re in. It’s a sad reality. Frenemies? (laughing) We’re gonna talk about frenemies, like we have on Facebook? That’s tantamount to defining foreign policy by virtue of what was in the latest Tom Cruise movie.
Anyway, I want to get to this West Point speech. It’s number 26. First half hour of this speech was the usual campaign speech, bashing the predecessor, bragging about bin Laden, and then he gets to the point that is his real worldview.
OBAMA: American influence is always stronger when we lead by example. We can’t exempt ourselves from the rules that apply to everybody else.
RUSH: You do everywhere else, though.
OBAMA: We can’t call on others to make commitments to combat climate change if a whole lot of our political leaders deny that it’s taking place.
RUSH: Oh, my God, I don’t believe —
OBAMA: We can’t try to resolve —
RUSH: Believe what I’ve just heard.
OBAMA: — problems in the South China Sea when we have refused to make sure that the Law of the Sea Convention is ratified by your United States Senate, despite the fact that our top military leaders say the treaty advances our national security. That’s not leadership. That’s retreat. That’s not strength. That’s weakness.
RUSH: It’s like he’s not even the president. It’s like this stuff happens without any input from him. Maybe the Senate hasn’t signed a Law of the Sea Treaty because it does not help the United States. Maybe it’s an absolute debacle for the United States, but even if it was good and they haven’t signed it, it means you’re having trouble persuading them. It means there must be some leadership absent here. But, I mean, “We can’t exempt ourselves from the rules that apply to everybody else.” You do every day. You devise rules for all of us to live by that you exempt yourselves from. Every liberal in power does that.
“We can’t call on others to make commitments to combat climate change if a whole lot of our political leaders deny that it’s taking place.” This is foreign policy? This is foreign policy, ripping into your political opponents at home ’cause they don’t agree with you on the hoax of climate change? “We can’t try to resolve problems in the South China Sea when we’ve refused to make sure that the –” See? America sucks. When you boil all this down, we can’t lead anybody because we’re not up to snuff ourselves. We got no business telling people what the right thing to do is because we’re not doing the right thing. That’s what that sound bite means. And I don’t recall in my lifetime a president who ever thought this way or dared speak it out loud.
Well, we can’t lead, because we’re deficient ourselves. We can’t tell these people the right thing to do because we’re not doing the right thing. Who are we? And that’s exactly the way this bunch looks at this country: flawed, guilty, immoral and unjust, and so we don’t have any moral authority because we aren’t any good ourselves. By the way, the applause of that was pathetic, as was the reception he got for most of the speech. Listen to this. The pathetic smattering of applause from the cadets here says it all in this next bite.
OBAMA: I believe in American exceptionism with every fiber of my being. But what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law. It is our willingness to affirm them through our actions.
AUDIENCE: (smattering of applause)
RUSH: Do you hear that? That is pathetic. Folks, that’s embarrassing. “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being, but what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law but our…” So we suck again. There’s nothing special about us. We don’t obey the law. We don’t abide by the law. We flout international norms and the rule of law.
Only when we behave properly, like when we don’t behave like a superpower, are we good. When do we flout international law? You know this Law of the Sea Treaty? Do you know when it was open for signature? It was 1982. It was 32 years ago, and they still can’t get any signatures on it because it’s so bad. It’s a huge penalty for the United States. The Law of the Sea Treaty is an absolute disaster.
That’s why, in 32 years, it still hasn’t been ratified. American exceptionalism? I don’t think he can define it. Okay, one quick one. Grab number 29. Christiane Amanpour. She didn’t like this. She was let down. She didn’t think this is the kind of speech that the cadets at the US Military Academy ought to hear. This is not a speech that is any way commensurate with our status as a superpower, and she didn’t like it.
AMANPOUR: This was billed as a speech by his administration to face down the critics who have said that this American foreign policy has been too weak to get people like Assad or Putin — or name any one of the leaders and adversaries around there — to listen to America’s leadership. This, though, was not a muscular speech, a robust speech that would assuage those critics. Nor was it a muscular speech commensurate with America’s superpower throw weight.
RUSH: Exactly right. There was no indication that we are willing to project our power in our own self-interests or for freedom or for anything else that we used to stand for. She’s pretty much saying it’s a wuss speech. I clearly can tell she was let down. She was expecting more. These people have no idea who this guy is. They still don’t know who he really is. The Wuss Speech at West Point. It’s embarrassing, folks. It really, truly is to me.
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RUSH: Folks, I have to tell you: If you don’t think that Obama has a problem with this country, you need to listen to that speech again. Here he is, the president, POTUS, commander-in-chief speaking at West Point, and it’s the Limbaugh Theorem. He’s speaking as though he’s not even the president. All these other people are screwing around and that’s why things are all messed up. Just amazing. It’s really stunning to me that we’ve actually elected somebody that has this many grievances.
I know we have people with grievances out there, but that we’ve elected one is what’s stunning.
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RUSH: Ron in Manassas, Virginia, I wanted to get to you. I know you’ve been waiting, and I appreciate that. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, thanks, Rush. I really appreciate getting on and I was listening to the current commander-in-chief talk to the young new lieutenants there at the Academy. I’m a retired Army lieutenant colonel of 26 years, and it was sickening to see the commander-in-chief. It really gives you a glimpse into his disdain and lack of understanding of the military. He’s sitting here telling these young guys that just finished four years of intense training:
“Oh, I’m gonna take care of you! You’re the first class I’m not gonna send to Afghanistan or Iraq,” and why do you think these guys are thinking? That’s what they’re training for, and here this guy’s standing up there saying, “I’m gonna take care of you. I’ve got good intentions for you, you good Boy Scouts. I’ll just send you over here and let you stay at Fort Bragg” or wherever.
RUSH: You know, that’s a good point. He said that in a way that he wanted accolades and appreciation. He told ’em they’re the first graduating class that’s not gonna be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, as though that is some sort of great progress. I don’t know how many have actually want to go, but you’re right. They’ve trained for it, and they want to put it to use and so forth. It’s just the whole mind-set that this man has about this country that was inescapable in that speech today.