This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” June 24, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Change has come full circle for President Obama. “The Anointed One” may have rejoiced over President Bush’s less than stellar poll numbers. But it looks as if public opinion has now turned on Obama.
A shocking new Wall Street Journal poll indicates that a whooping 62 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Just 29 percent believe we are headed in the right direction.
Now the poll also reveals that Americans are so fed up with this Democratic Congress that 57 percent are prepared to vote against incumbents. Just 35 percent indicated they would back such candidates.
And “The Anointed One,” well, he’s not faring much better than Congress. Forty-eight percent of those polled disapprove of his job performance. That’s three percent more than those who approve. Even 17 percent of Democrats say they disapprove of his performance.
Not exactly a vote of confidence.
Now “The Anointed One” isn’t getting high marks for his handling of the Gulf oil spill either. A whopping 50 percent disapprove of the way he has handled that disaster. And with good reason.
And joining me now with reaction to the president’s disastrous poll numbers is Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is back on the program.
Congresswoman, welcome back.
CONGRESSWOMAN MICHELE BACHMANN, R-MINN.: Thank you, Sean. Always a pleasure.
HANNITY: All right, well, look at these numbers. Job performance. Now those that disapprove, you know what, higher number for Obama. Fifty-nine percent are only somewhat confident he set the right goals for the country, 30 percent of people say, they don’t relate to Obama – and that was only 8 percent at the beginning of the presidency.
And here’s the one that got to me: Fewer than half of those polled give him high marks or positive marks when asked, did they think the president is honest and straightforward.
How do you interpret all this?
BACHMANN: Well, I interpret it as a big five alarm fire for the president right now because not only are his approval ratings going down, but this also, we’re down negatively to Speaker Pelosi, her incumbents, and also to Harry Reid and his Democratic incumbents.
This is not good news for the far left. But it’s indicative of how great the American people are. Because it says the American people want their country back. They want to go back to prosperity, they want to go back to peace through strength. And they’re seeing that the policies of Obama are failures and they aren’t taking the United States in the right direction.
HANNITY: All right, these numbers are actually even higher than 1994 when you have 57 percent –
BACHMANN: That’s right.
HANNITY: – would rather elect a new member of Congress than re-elect their local representative. Can we really infer – what are we, 131 days now out of the midterm election? Can we interpret that to mean that the Democrats really are in for massive losses?
BACHMANN: Well, it doesn’t look good for them. There’s no question. It’s possible to turn things around but right now when you have even one in four Democrats saying that the president is mishandling the BP oil spill? The president is in real trouble because he’s also in trouble with his base.
He’s not only lost Republicans. Republicans have gelled together in support of their candidates but he’s lost the center, Sean. He’s lost the independents. And now he’s busy losing his base.
As high as President Obama rose initially, we’re seeing him descend almost as quickly. And it isn’t that I think conservatives are rejoicing about this because, quite honestly, we all want to see the country work. We want to see jobs created.
But when the president said give me a trillion dollars and I’ll create four million jobs, and instead he lost four million jobs, it wasn’t just the jobs he lost, Sean, he lost the confidence of investors of small business men and women.
He lost the confidence of the worker on the line because the – what the president has promised, he hasn’t been able to deliver.
HANNITY: Look, I think we’re watching here a presidency in collapse. I really do. And I – we really haven’t seen this in our lifetime here. It reminds me a lot of what happened to Jimmy Carter here. Almost every key indicator shows support for the president is cracking.
The two examples that really, though, stand out in my mind. Just this week Nancy Pelosi sent out a D.C. letter. And in it, she says in this – it’s a fundraising letter – that she wants supporters to give contributions to help prevent subpoenas and investigations that would result in a GOP majority.
And when Harry Reid’s son drops his last name from his website in a campaign ad, it seems to me they are indicating that they think they expect a bloodbath.
BACHMANN: I think they do. Their pollsters have taken a lot of polls recently. And those numbers are very well-known in Washington, D.C. And those numbers say that Speaker Pelosi in all likelihood will lose her gavel in November if things continue the way they are.
That doesn’t mean that Republicans can just sit back and count the majority. They need to work very hard going forward. They need to get their message out appropriately to people and the country.
And the same with Harry Reid. His numbers don’t look good in Nevada. But again, the Democrats have had a financial advantage. So it’s very important that Republicans raise their money, gather volunteers together. No one should take this election for granted.
Just think what a difference one vote makes. In Minnesota we provided the 60th vote in the Senate that gave us government takeover of health care. Every vote and every seat matters. We have to work hard so that we can take our country back.
HANNITY: You know, here’s what I don’t understand. You would think – I know the president is going out there with a propaganda campaign in the summer trying to claim that, you know, this is their great economic recovery.
The American people aren’t seeing that. We’re not seeing it in the unemployment numbers. We’re not seeing it in housing. Every indicator is that we may actually be headed for a double dip.
And then we’ve got the issue of the oil spill. I mean there was a report out today that eight miles of, quote, “sticky goo” staining the beaches of Pensacola and the panhandle. And still they don’t seem to have a handle on how severe this crisis is.
What do you think is going on in the White House? They ran such a good campaign, frankly I’m surprised they don’t get this.
BACHMANN: Well, that’s right. And we don’t get an indication that they fully appreciate the breath of how the floor has dropped out from underneath them. I was in Pensacola not that long ago and it – they are the most pristine beautiful beaches. And it’s so tragic when you marine life covered in – and wildlife covered in the oil and the sludge and realized the devastating impact that all of this has.
And then when you see that the White House pulled back on dredging, from some of these beautiful beaches, people aren’t seeing competence. And again, that’s what President Obama said he was going to be.
He mocked the former president’s reaction in the Katrina issue. But the president now – President Obama is not demonstrating competence to the American people in his handling, not only of this disaster, but he’s been given a long time to deal with the economy and he’s not been able to turn it around with runaway spending and runaway deficit.
HANNITY: In my mind this is all predictable. You know what? Carter economics, socialism has never worked. Free market enterprise works.
BACHMANN: It never works.
HANNITY: It never works. Here’s my last question. Your reaction to General McChrystal. I think what was – they humiliated him, they excoriated him. I don’t think anything rose to the level of being fired. I wanted to get your reaction.
BACHMANN: Well, I think it’s clear he did a service to the country. And now General Petraeus has to step in. We all want to make sure that the terrorists are defeated and that Al Qaeda does not gain a foothold in Afghanistan.
HANNITY: Was it a mistake to fire?
BACHMANN: To fire McChrystal? I guess we’ll see. You know. It remains to be seen. Right now we focus going forward.
HANNITY: Let me ask you – I’m going to push you a little bit on this. Was it a mistake to fire him for this so-called reason? Or do you think that was the right decision?
BACHMANN: Well, it’s politics. But really the main issue now is making sure that we prevail and go forward. It’s – there’s politics that are involved. And I think that’s not what we want to determine our policies.
HANNITY: All right, Congresswoman, appreciate as always, you for being with us. Thank you very much.
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