Incoherent Obama and Clinton on Romney and the Economy

RUSH: Last night on The CBS Evening News, they played a clip from an upcoming interview on CBS, Charlie Rose talking to Obama. Charlie Rose said, "What do you think the lessons have been that might guarantee success for you in a second --" see, everything is oriented around this guy winning the election. To hell with what happens to the country. I guess Charlie Rose doesn't care. I guess he's doing okay. He can't envision not doing okay. He can't envision not being whatever he is today, so he doesn't care. It's all, "what does it mean for Obama?" Anyway, here's what The One said.

OBAMA: The mistake of my first term, a couple of years, was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that's important. But, you know, the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.

RUSH: What a laugher. It's all falling apart. Unity? Optimism? There isn't any of that, particularly among his voters. He hasn't been able to tell a story? All he wants to do is tell stories that distract people enough from the way his policies are destroying the country. That's the story he's looking for. So Charlie Rose, interviewing President Obama and Michelle Obama, talking about Romney, says, "Mr. President, do you believe his presidency would be a disaster? Because this is a man who's been a successful businessperson. Does that disqualify him or make him not an appropriate candidate for political office? How do you take the measure of Romney's business experience?"

Here's a guy who wouldn't know the first thing about a dime store. Here Charlie Rose is asking somebody about Mitt Romney's business qualifications, Barack Obama doesn't know when he's in a business. And the first clue that he's in a business is, he thinks the guy running it is an enemy. Twilight Zone. We're gonna ask somebody who hates business and who doesn't have the slightest understanding about it, why Romney and his business qualifications disqualify him from being president.

OBAMA: If you're the head a lot of large private equity firm or hedge fund, your job is to make money. It's not to create jobs. It's not even to create a successful business. It's to make sure that you are maximizing returns for your investor. That doesn't necessarily make you qualified --

RUSH: Wait, this is exactly what I mean. Let's parse this. If you're head of a large private equity firm or hedge fund, your job is to make money. See? That's a strike against you. Making money is a strike against you. It's not to create jobs. Mr. President, seriously, sir, I want you to find for me -- no, I won't believe it when you find it. I'm gonna assert there isn't one successful CEO who said he went into business to create jobs. That is not why anybody starts a company. It's not why anybody starts a business, to create jobs. They start businesses for entirely unrelated -- well, they're not unrelated, but for different reasons.

They have a passion. They have an invention. They have a service they think people will benefit from. They're trying to earn a living. It requires money. Living requires money. Most people want to earn their own. Ergo, starting a company is how they do it. They'd rather not work for somebody else. But nobody starts a business to create jobs. Nobody starts a business to provide health care for the community. Nobody starts a business so that the economy or the climate is safe. Nobody starts businesses for these reasons. Private equity hedge fund, is to make sure you're maximizing returns for your investor. What the hell is wrong with that?

When that happens, guess what else happens? Jobs do get created. People's economic circumstances do improve with a return on investment. This is what I mean. This guy hasn't the slightest idea what he's talking about. Oh, does he sound smart when he says it, though. Does he sound educated when he talks about this stuff. Wow. You know what else happens when all this stuff happens, Mr. President? Growth. The very thing you claim you're trying to achieve. That's what these guys do. They grow businesses. I don't know what perverted view you have of economies and private sectors, but it is genuinely perverted. I don't know who put these ideas in your head. Marx, Alinsky, whoever. Here's the rest of the bite just for the frustration of it.

OBAMA: -- to think about the economy as a whole because, as president, my job is to think about the workers. My job is to think about communities where jobs have been outsourced.

OBAMA: And so it is not that he is disqualified because of what he's done. I want us to make sure that we know what your theory is about how to grow the economy

RUSH: As though you've got one that works? You have a theory that grows the economy, Mr. President? You don't know jack.

RUSH: It wasn't very long ago, ladies and gentlemen, that Bill Clinton would go out there and say something like how qualified Mitt Romney was to be president. "Bain Capital, private equity, we can't criticize these people! Bain Capital, private equity, they do some great work." And so did what's-his-face, Cory Booker. It wasn't long ago the whole Democrat Party was abandoning Obama on this stuff. But he took 'em all out to the woodshed. He got them all back in order.

So now I guess everybody is hunky-dory and down with the stupidity. Everybody's gotta sit there, gnash their teeth, and support this lunatic. I remember when Clinton would speak. The last time Clinton said something, remember? They leaked that his staff would say, "Well, you know, he's 65." Remember that? I forget what it was that Clinton said. He praised Bain Capital and some other stuff. Whatever it was, the media went and talked to Clinton staffers and they said, "Yeah, well, mmmm.

"Yeah, president is getting a little old. He's 65." The implication was he has the onset of senility. Okay, well, bearing that in mind, Clinton, by his own staff's observation, is getting senile. We have Clinton sound bites. This morning on the Today Show on NBC, brand-new co-host Savannah Guthrie was interviewing Clinton. She said, "Recently the Democrats have been emphasizing Romney's personal investments. In fact, he has some accounts in Switzerland and the Caymans." Savannah, do you know that so does half the Democrat Party if not more have investments in the same places?

Oh, well. What does it matter? Anyway, she said, "Mr. President, I wonder if you think it's a legitimate line of attack [for us] to take against Romney?" She didn't say "for us," but she means it. "Is it a legitimate line of attack [for us at the Today Show and NBC and the rest of the media] to take against Romney, the fact he's got investments in the Caymans and so forth? Do you think it's relevant to his fitness to be president?"

Okay, so Clinton is the final arbiter on somebody's "fitness to be president." And here's what Der Schlick Meister had to say...

CLINTON: I'm a little surprised that he only released a year's worth of tax returns. That's kind of perplexed me because it's the first time in, I don't know, more than 30 years that anybody running for president has only done that.

CLINTON: You know, it's typical, I think. We all release 10, 11 years. (snickers) I think Senator McCain released over 20 years of tax returns. That struck me as a little odd.

RUSH: How about your health records? Have you ever released those, Mr. President? Have we ever seen your health records? Have we ever seen Obama's college transcripts? Have we seen his health records? I don't think we have. So then Savannah Guthrie said, "Well, what is the role of the economy in this election, Mr. Clinton? What is the role of the economy?"

CLINTON: You know, I'm not sure both sides want the economy to get better. I know the president does. But I know what Senator McConnell said, that his number one priority was winning the election.

GUTHRIE: It sounds like y-you're saying the Republicans are basically rooting for the economy to fail!

CLINTON: No, I didn't say that. Senator McConnell did. Senator McConnell said his number one goal was not to get the economy going again; it was to defeat the president. So, I hope they're not rooting for it to fail. I think you know they really may believe that austerity now is the right policy.

RUSH: Well, that's just senile! I don't even know what he's talking about. That's absolute drivel. But there he is, Bill Clinton on the roll of the economy. Hey, Savannah, why don't you go interview "The Economy"? Why don't you go ask it what its role is instead of going to ask Clinton? "What is the role of The Economy in the presidential race?" Go ask The Economy what its role is.

Here’s the whole quote about Romney;

Obama “When some people question why I would challenge his Bain record, the point I’ve made there in the past is, if you’re a head of a large private equity firm or hedge fund, your job is to make money. It’s not to create jobs. It’s not even to create a successful business, it’s to make sure that you’re maximizing returns for your investor.

Now that’s appropriate. That’s part of the American way. That’s part of the system. But that doesn’t necessarily make you qualified to think about the economy as a whole, because as president, my job is to think about the workers. My job is to think about communities where jobs have been outsourced.”

Excerpts from Daniel Greenfield

From a marketing standpoint, it's not what the product is, but how people perceive it in relation to themselves. This is an entirely image based approach, but a common one now. What that means is, is this a brand I want to be associated with. Do I want to be seen drinking this can of Pepsi? Is this a brand that makes me feel good about myself? Does it enhance my self-image?

The branding of American politics worked the same way. Obama was not sold as a set of positions and a track record, but as a brand. A brand that people were encouraged to feel enthusiastic about or at least comfortable with, using the same techniques that were used to sell soft drinks. Cheerful posters, meaninglessly simple slogans, celebrities, theme songs, merchandise, social media, viral videos, fonts, color schemes, logos and everything else that goes into pushing a billion dollar product from the shelves to the kitchen.

There was no longer any point in discussing programs or issues. They had become details, like the fine print at the end of a television commercial that no one can read, and no one is meant to read. It's there to fulfill an obligation, not to inform or play any meaningful role in the decision making process. All that mattered was the brand.

~snip~

This best describes Obama's public image. A brand that is as familiar as it is unreal. Like Ronald McDonald or Mr Clean, we are familiar with him, yet unable to go beyond the smooth surface. He is everywhere and yet nowhere. He constantly wants our attention, but has nothing to tell us. There is a real physical Barack Hussein Obama walking about somewhere, but there needn't be. He would be just as real, if he didn't exist. If he were nothing more than a poster, a logo, a few books, some computer graphics and a slogan. He would be no less real, because he isn't real. He's a brand.

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