Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on November 20, 2009

Sign of weakness: Pres. Barack Obama bows to Japan’s Emperor Akihito | Nov. 2009

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh gives his take on the success (cough, cough…. LACK of success) of Pres. Obama’s trip to Asia.

Not a terrible trip, but not a good trip. Obama came across as weak to many, and didn’t accomplish much of anything despite high expectations. Even VP “Crazy Joe” Biden could have done as well. Which is a scary thought.

Bash Bush! Now bow! Bash Bush some more! Bow some more! Tell our deployed troops in South Korea that they make for a great photo op… can you bash Bush some more? Or maybe just bash America?

Rush Limbaugh’s Radio Show: Obama’s Polls Down, Trip Failed | Aired November 20, 2009, EIB Network

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The Gallup poll will announce — they effectively have announced it — the Gallup poll will announce that for the first time in their poll Barack Obama’s approval rating has fallen below 50%.

In fact, a little story about this. This from Ben Smith at The Politico: “His approval numbers have bounced down to the 50% mark several times, driven by weaker support from independents and Republicans, but hadn’t crossed it. The slide is worrying for the White House, but it’s probably not yet panic time. Ronald Reagan’s approval numbers dropped well below 40% during the depths of his first term recession. If Obama’s bad stretch puts him in the high forties or low fifties, that’s not a crippling political problem. If he languishes there or drops further, it may become one.”

Ha! If there were a Republican president falling below 50% for the first time in a poll, that’s all we’d be hearing about it, and we wouldn’t hear the press giving him cover. Also, Reagan fell down to 40%, but Obama’s numbers are all about his personality and his charisma and all about his promise and all about his hope and change; and what’s happening here is Obama has had a head-on collision with the reality that his personality is not enough to carry the day and inspire and motivate people to go out and do good things.

I’ve got two stories in the stack today. Both are reviews of Obama’s trip, and they are devastating. One is in the New York Times, I think. The other one I forget where it’s from, but they are just devastating. He didn’t accomplish anything. He bowed to the Japanese emperor. That’s the last photo-op. He was not able to accomplish anything. The ChiComs are able to shepherd him around on their terms, not his.

He appeared weak, small, and he didn’t even leave with anything prearranged to be announced as a positive on the trip, which is hard to believe. Presidents usually don’t fly off and ad-lib. But with Obama and his narcissism and his being so self-impressed with his own personality, I guess he thought that would carry the day but apparently it did not. (interruption) Yeah, what do you have to arrange when you surrender? A good question.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, I was thinking Obama — poor old Obama — and his trip that was such a washout. There was nothing remarkable about it.

That bow-down to the Japanese emperor? I mean, folks, it was a wet blanket. It was just nothing and he didn’t even get to come back with one of those ObaMao T-shirts. You know they had those T-shirts with Obama on there dressed up as Mao Tse-tung in the famous Mao Tse-tung army pose or whatever? There was a CNN reporter that got in trouble for showing one of those things. Security guards came in and took ‘em all off the shelves. Obama didn’t even get to come back with one of those. They banned the sale of those shirts over there so as not to offend Mao, probably, and his memory.

I’m sure Obama would have been flattered by the comparison had he been able to see one of these T-shirts.

END TRANSCRIPT

To read more of Limbaugh’s show transcripts, go to his website. Transcripts are available for a few weeks to all readers, available indefinitely if you belong to Limbaugh’s 24/7 Club.

From New York Times:

Instead, with the novelty of a visit as America’s first black president having given way to the reality of having to plow through intractable issues like monetary policy (China), trade (Singapore, China, South Korea), security (Japan) and the 800-pound gorilla on the continent (China), Mr. Obama’s Asia trip has been, in many ways, a long, uphill slog.

So it is no wonder that on the last day of the toughest part of his trip — the China part — Mr. Obama took a hike: a brisk, bracing 30-minute climb up the Great Wall. Around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama’s mile-long motorcade arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which snakes over jagged, rocky mountains.

Visitors to that touristy section of the wall generally encounter a cacophonous melee of vendors, but on this day, the place was like a ghost town, courtesy of the Chinese authorities who had shut it down. (The same thing happened Tuesday when Mr. Obama sped through an empty-but-for-his-entourage Forbidden City.)

Even the two sightseeing trips did not offer a total respite, however, as they were prominent, well-publicized examples of what Mr. Obama did not do in China. He steered clear of public meetings with Chinese liberals, free press advocates and even average Chinese, with his aides citing scheduling conflicts. Mr. Obama did, though, give an interview on Wednesday morning to Southern Weekly, one of China’s most popular newspapers, sometimes known for poking the authorities by breaking news on delicate subjects.

Still, for an American president who has tried to make openness a hallmark of his public persona, it was a departure, made more stark since Chinese authorities largely hijacked Mr. Obama’s one other attempt at a give and take with Chinese students, a town hall meeting in Shanghai, by stuffing the auditorium with young Communist Party aspirants.

Another -14 day for POTUS:

Rasmussen Reports: Another -14 day for POTUS disapproval | Nov. 20, 2009

Related reading:
Jake Tapper, Political Punch, ABC News: Did the Chinese Government Crack Down on an Obama Interview? and On President Obama’s Bow to the Japanese Emperor, An Academic Friend Writes That Both the Left and the Right Are Wrong
Michael Barone, Rasmussen Reports: Obama Bows, but the World Refuses to Bow Back
Spiegle Online International: Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
New York Times: Obama’s Pacific Trip Encounters Rough Waters
Los Angeles Times: How low will he go? Obama gives Japan’s Emperor Akihito a wow bow (Updated with video, pic)
The Powers That Be: Bowrack Bowbama Strikes Again and Count How Many Other World Leaders Bowed to Japan’s Emperor and Newsweek Runs Incredibly Positive Cover Story on Sarah Palin
Autographed Letter Signed: Sunday Soliloquy: By their fruits ye shall know them

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