We're entering a new phase, gang, and you're seeing it played out in the media right now. We are no longer being nudged to get in line. You are getting shoved.
There's a war being fought and it isn't against the oil spill, it's a war on your very way of life. The words I'm hearing in the media right now are some of the most shocking words I've ever heard. And they call me crazy? I'm going to play some of the clips for you tonight — you won't believe it — but first I want to look at the president's address on the BP spill.
They're comparing it to Jimmy Carter's "crisis of confidence" speech, where Carter was his usual inept, wimpy self. No, Obama didn't blow it; he did exactly what he wanted to. This speech was a declaration of war — listen to the language:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is somehow too big and too difficult to meet. You know, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And this one:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I've returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we're waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.... Tonight I'd like to lay out for you what our battle plan is going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Battle plan; assault on our shores; World War II — George Stephanopolous described it as "martial language":
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC: Those Oval Office addresses are often used when the nation is at war and tonight the president used martial language. He talked about a "siege," the "assault on our shores" and his "battle plan" to fix it. And he said we have to "rally together." And I think what the White House was reaching for tonight is the feel of Franklin Roosevelt during World War II and those fireside chats. And the president even said that during World War II they said we couldn't build enough planes and tanks, but we did. We can beat this as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Make no mistake, this was a war speech.
It was Obama's first speech from the Oval Office as president. Presidents usually only give an address from the Oval Office for extremely unusual events, like major economic news, addressing a tragedy or an announcement of war.
Don't get me wrong: This oil spill is a disaster. It's an actual crisis, not a manufactured one like health care. But remember, it's Obama who went on national TV to plead for the passage of the stimulus bill, because America may not make it if it doesn't pass and he didn't use the Oval Office for that one.
So the complete and total collapse of America doesn't warrant a speech from the Oval Office, but an oil spill that the president has waited months to address (and golfed six times and went to McCartney concerts in the meantime) suddenly does?
Why is Obama declaring war on the oil spill? As usual, the answer is found in history. This speech may as well have been given by Woodrow Wilson or FDR. Progressives need a crisis with the moral equivalent to war to pass unpopular bills. That's not my theory — remember, it was Woodrow Wilson propaganda specialist Edward Bernays who was so excited about how well their war propaganda worked that he wanted to expand the idea:
"It was, of course, the astounding success of propaganda during the war that opened the eyes of the intelligent few in all departments of life to the possibilities of regimenting the public mind. It was only natural after the war ended that intelligent persons should ask themselves whether it was not possible to apply a similar technique to the problems of peace."
Bernays was an incredibly influential man. He was mentioned in diaries of Goebbels. The Nazis learned propaganda from us. It was the emergency propaganda that led Jews to the ovens: Jews were causing problems, they'd take over banks according to them. Some of the worst villains in all of history have used the idea of propaganda the way the American Bernays (under Woodrow Wilson) intended it to be used. It's a progressive tactic and it works on both manufactured and real crisis. Because if there is a crisis, people will say "you've got to do something!"
George W. Bush, a progressive, put the massive Patriot Act through after Sept. 11. It was easy; we had to do something against a foreign enemy. And so we created the Department of Homeland Security and we took off our shoes and our belts and we believed it. We believed Bush was going to keep us safe. Until we didn't fix our borders, then we realized it wasn't really about protecting us, it was about something else. It was about big government and control. It didn't feel right.
As president, one of the first things Obama did was change the name "War on Terror" to an "overseas contingency operation." He said there is no War on Terror or Islamic extremism. But now he's announcing a war on an oil slick. Again, it doesn't feel right.
We saw on the border, if the government really wanted to protect us, they would stop the flood of illegal immigrants first. And if this were really about stopping the oil spill, before talking about energy taxes and cap-and-trade and solar panels, you'd stop the oil. It's called a tourniquet!
Obama says this is a war, yet he's only meeting with the CEO of BP for 20 minutes? The people on his "commission" know almost nothing about oil wells, except for the fact that they are activists who want to stop offshore drilling.
Fran Beinecke, the head of the White House National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, has no oil experience, but she is the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and has publicly voiced opposition to traditional energy sources.
The president is using this to gain power, to take advantage of crisis and use it to jam through legislation that otherwise would never have a chance. And right now, the things progressives want have no chance. Leading Democrats are saying there is no political will to pass the climate bill. Obama wants to do what he believes is right: Pass the climate bill. But he can't. If he just had some people to help force him do what he believes is right. Wait, where have I heard that before? Oh yes, from the communists and the socialists.
Remember the video we showed you from the progressive America's Future Now conference? They were throwing stuff at Nancy Pelosi because they are upset. Van Jones told the crowd that the president is on your side, he really wants to do things — but he needs the will of the people behind him! So you have to start from the bottom up
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN JONES, FORMER WHITE HOUSE GREEN JOBS "CZAR": This week will mark an historic inflection point when progressives decided to be progressive again in this country.
So now your challenge, as you leave here — our challenge — is to take care of that bottom-up part and that inside-out part: the heart part. That's where we're weak now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
He can't go it alone. He needs an atmosphere that allows the president to know what he is doing is right. Got it? And Van Jones said at that conference that something has changed. Even the people at CNBC are noticing something's wrong:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT NESTO, CNBC: But I'm very troubled by the fact that the president has once again created his own sense of, of a legal system…. It's not his job to create laws. It's his job to enforce laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
That's CNBC noticing something is wrong. But the president couldn't get that to happen unless those who want fundamental transformation to start creating the conditions where president can do what he knows is right.
Rosie O'Donnell is out there calling for government to seize BP:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL: I say seize their assets... right now. Seize their assets today. Take over the country, I don't care. Issue an executive order and say, BP, guess what? Call it socialism. Call it communism. Call it anything you want. Let's watch Rush Limbaugh explode on TV. Seize the assets, take over BP.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MSNBC, the same network who has called me crazy for suggesting that we are heading down a big government road that could eventually lead to a dictator — maybe the next president, maybe not Obama, but down the road — well, listen to this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC: Mr. President, I want to see the boot on the neck of BP tonight. I want to see some finger-pointing whether it's in your personality or not. And it's OK tonight to act kind of like a dictator and call the shots, saying this is the way it's going to be.
Don't you think this is a moment where President Obama has to make sure that he lets everybody know that he's calling the shots, and almost in words of maybe a dictator, that this is the way we're going to do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
They are calling for him to act like a dictator? I get in hot water for showing how we are expanding government so much that if the wrong guy gets in there we'll have a dictator. But MSNBC can literally demand that the president start being a dictator and there's crickets?
Everyone is saying that the president is in trouble because he's lost MSNBC, the thrill up the leg network. Yes, this is exactly as designed by Van Jones and other progressives at the America's Future Now conference. They're working from the bottom up and creating an environment where fundamental transformation can take place. And they are using every device they can.
Time Magazine and everyone else ridiculed me as Howard Beale. They said he was dangerous, crazy. But now MSNBC is now touting Dylan Ratigan as Howard Beale. In a profile interview, Ratigan was asked about being an "angry anchorman" like Beale — and the interviewer said the host was "happy to acknowledge" that: "We need that guy from 'Network.' At some point somebody has to walk in the room and be like, 'None of you are solving the problem!'"
Isn't it amazing that the media is now calling for an angry, forceful Howard Beale-like character from the president, just to get things done? One host is actually calling for a dictator. The media doesn't seem to have a problem with the president making up his own laws. As it always is in history with progressives, they're never responsible for their own problems.
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