Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ben Stein Rips Obama's 'Love of Self'

On Neil Cavuto's show, Ben Stein shared his view of Obama, expressing his doubt that Obama would be satisfied being a one-term president.

Stein was brutally honest in his assessment of Obama.


Video.



Transcript

(Clip)

OBAMA: I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.

(End clip)

NEIL CAVUTO: It is a little interesting, right? Everyone has been dismissing that quote from the president saying he really doesn't mean it, right? He can't possibly mean it. I actually think the guy does. I've been saying it for some time now that he does put cause over candidacy. And while he probably would like to be in the White House another four years after these four, it's not the end all and be all. Well, that's what has Ben Stein very worried. Ben... Good to have you.

BEN STEIN: It's good to be here with you always, Neil.

This man is the master chameleon of all time. He puts himself as the cause above candidacy. The cause is Barack Hussein Obama. The cause is not health care. The cause is not cap and trade. The cause is not carbon tax. The cause is not deficit reduction. The cause is Barack Obama, and he'll do whatever it takes to make himself powerful and stay in office. That's his cause.

CAVUTO: Yeah, but then why push all those causes that hurt that Obama brand?

STEIN: 'Cause he didn't know, 'cause he's not smart enough to know they were going to hurt the Barack Obama brand. I mean if he...

CAVUTO: Well, he can clearly see it now, can't he, Ben?

STEIN: I don't know that he can see it. You know something? I don't know that he can see it. I don't know that he can see it, Neil. I worked at the White House. The president is surrounded by ass-kissers and people say he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. The president is surrounded by yeasayers and praisers and entourage.

I don't think he does really see clearly how angry people out there in America are. And I think he still thinks he'll do a little whining and self-pity act, and that people will suddenly say, 'Oh gosh, we have to him. We'll do whatever he says. Please, Mr. President, don't abandon us.' He is just a chameleon.

CAVUTO: I wonder though if there could be a method, assuming that's right, to the madness then. In other words, that you are... Go ahead.

STEIN: Yeah, there is definitely. There's no doubt about it. The method is to promote Barack Obama to be as powerful and as much in the limelight as possible.

Look, this is a guy who's done more speeches, more foreign trips to meet with world leaders than any other president in a comparable first year in office. Why? He loves being in the limelight. He absolutely loves it. He thinks he's a gift from God. He's quoted in that new book, Game Change, 'I think I have a gift.' He thinks he is a gift, and he wants to put himself in the public limelight as much as possible. Look, that does not differentiate himself....

CAVUTO: But don't all presidents, don't all presidents-- I know you worked for some of the more mercurial ones, Richard Nixon comes to mind. Maybe he didn't love the limelight but he certainly didn't steer away from it.

STEIN: No. You're so right, Neil. Politicians love the limelight. We all love the limelight. I love the limelight. You love the limelight. Here we are in the limelight, but...

CAVUTO: No, see that assumes, Ben, that assumes that we're caught up in, in shallow things. By the way, how's my tie? Go ahead.

STEIN: The extent, the extent of his love of self is simply spectacular. The amount of times he has gone on national TV, the amount of times he has thrust himself forward in the national spotlight is unprecedented. There is something going on in this man's head that is quite unusual.

CAVUTO: Here's my final crackpot theory. You can dismiss it as you will, 'cause you're a very smart guy and you're going to.

STEIN: No, I'm not that smart. I'm just playing smart.

CAVUTO: Ben, I'm saying this: I think that he, if he gets a lot of what he wants, on health care even trimmed down from what he wanted, and stimulus, and some of the cap and trade, which might be going away anyway, but by and large he gets a lot of the big initiatives which could change the structure of our government maybe for decades to come, and he's limited to one term, that's a hell of a term. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but better to have that in one term even if it risks not getting a second one because you will have structurally changed things ala FDR in one term.

STEIN: FDR had four elections, and a successful president will win the next election. An unsuccessful president will not win. There's only been one successful one-term president, James K. Polk. That's it.

If he's successful, if his initiatives really help things, he will not be a one-term president. He'll be a two-term president. But this is a guy who will change for anything. He will change anything. He's not a spiritual leader. He's not Joan of Arc. He is a politician. I mean, he's a very good politician, but he's a politician and he's a person who loves to be in the limelight. He's not going to walk off the stage quietly.

Stein nails it. Great stuff.

Obama isn't the type to leave the limelight quietly. No way. The purpose of his presidency is his aggrandizement. It's all about him. He'll do and say anything to get people to like him.

He'll even bow.

'I have a gift. Surely, you like me. If you don't like me, there must be something wrong with you.'

Obama's narcissism blinds him, rendering him completely clueless.

I'm seriously beginning to question his mental stability. He seems to have lost touch with reality.

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