Jackies Pro Sports News - Rumors - & Scandals: The Right Word: Obama's new world disorder

Fox News hosts come to terms with a not bad presidential speech, but Glenn Beck worries about riots at the royal wedding

Fox News hosts had to concede that the president did a pretty good job in his speech about Libya, but they remain hopeful that his re-election bid may be compromised if the mission backfires.

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly approved of the president's speech for the most part, although he didn't think it covered much new ground (view clip). We already know that Gaddafi is a monster who would have launched a massacre, that America is different from other countries (or "exceptional", if you will), because we don't turn a blind eye to atrocities and that it might not be such a good idea to be engaging in regime change or nation-building in Libya, as that didn't go so well for us in Iraq.

You may not agree with it, but Mr Obama can defend his position. If the US is indeed an exceptional nation and we can save lives without harming our country, we should.

O'Reilly did have some issues, however ? mainly that the speech lacked passion and conviction, and that while he doesn't think it's necessarily wrong to seek an international consensus before bombing a country, he finds it odd that the president still feels the need to apologise for America's leadership.

I want the United States to be seen throughout the world as a noble country that knows right from wrong and will protect innocent people if it can. The president seems to want that as well but he's not loud enough about it. The speech tonight was good but it should have been given earlier and with more passion.

He discussed the issue with Brit Hume, who pointed out that although the president was anxious to give the impression that America has led the charge so far, he was equally anxious that we relinquish that leadership position as soon as possible. O'Reilly replied that if it's really true that America has led the way, then French President Nicolas Sarkozy must have recently acquired American citizenship. Hume thinks that the president is playing a bit of a double act, trying to take credit domestically while taking a back seat internationally, because he thinks that America's image around the world has been tarnished by the Iraq war. O'Reilly tries to explain where the president might be coming from.

Poll after poll after poll, country after country after country [agreed] that the war [in Iraq] hurt America's image. I think that's true. I don't think people fully understood what we were doing there. I think it certainly turned out for the benefit of the Iraqi people and the world, but the image that people had is that we were a big foot and that we took over ? and that is what Obama tried to avoid here.

O'Reilly was pleased, though, that the president seemed at least to have some awareness of America's exceptional qualities (although he didn't allude to them directly), and was heartened that 88% of participants in an informal poll that asked if the US is an exceptional nation responded affirmatively.

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity was less taken with the president's speech, although he agreed that it was successful in so far as it would serve to convince (or at least hoodwink) a large chunk of the American people into thinking that the Libyan crisis had been handled in an acceptable manner.

"This long-overdue speech came after more than a month of utter confusion and mixed messages from the administration and officials within the administration. Now the commander-in-chief used his time tonight to pat himself on the back for what he called 'swift action'. And despite being virtually silent on the issue for weeks, he now argues he was in complete control all along ? oh, really?"

To demonstrate how ineffective the president's handling of the situation has been, Hannity plays a select from the speech in which the president makes the point that while it took the international community almost a year to form a coalition to intervene in Bosnia, a year too late for many innocent civilians, it only took a month to organise the air strikes against Gaddafi's regime ? even if that would seem to reinforce, rather than dispel, the notion that the Obama administration had acted quickly and decisively without being too heavyhanded and without upsetting all our international allies.

He discussed the situation with regular guest Dick Morris, who agreed that the speech was a home run for the president but urged Hannity not to despair because things may still go horribly wrong for Obama: Egypt may blow up and become a terror state; oil prices may spike; the US economy may tank further; there may yet be a terror attack on US soil; and Libya may descend into total chaos. This analysis cheered Hannity up no end.

First of all, I love your perspective here because you're right: he is on the hook for all these things. I'm listening very carefully to what you're saying. What frustrates me is that I think there is a certain segment of the voting electorate in this country that did not pay attention to Gates contradicting Admiral Mullins contradicting Hillary contradicting the vice-president contradicting the president. We going to get Gaddafi, not get Gaddafi. It's in our interest, not in our interest, and he goes out and they look at all the arguments and all the criticism and they come up with a speech and people say he did a great job!

Morris reminded Hannity that although the Libya speech was a boost for the president, it may well turn out to be his "mission accomplished" moment. Hannity hopes this will be the case but remains concerned that the American people just may not be paying close enough attention to the administration's incompetence.

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck didn't have a whole lot to say about the president's speech (view clip) ? perhaps because he is busy making plans for the 24 hour cable news channel he may end up launching if his Fox News contract is not renewed at the end of the year as the New York Times is predicting.

He focused instead on his ever-expanding theory that Islamic extremists in conjunction with labour unions and communist radicals are trying to bring about a new world order. The Middle East is in flames, as we know, and now the chaos is spreading to Europe as evidenced this past weekend in London where an estimated 500,000 people came out in what Beck described as "their biggest, most violent round of protests yet".

According to reports, 500,000 people showed up and while the press did their best to label the reports as mostly peaceful ? it's amazing ? the video reported the anarchists throwing missiles, attacking banks, attacking police, smashing widows.

Beck is most concerned that the anarchic spirit that seems to have taken hold in London will negatively impact the upcoming royal wedding, as he feels that the ordinary people who are bearing the brunt of the recession may feel resentful of the royal family's lavish celebration.

Next up is the royal wedding. These same thugs are announcing now they're planning protests there. And as the government is cutting programmes, will there be anything more angry to the people than an over-the-top opulent royal wedding? Or at least can be used against the crown. Remember the last time they attacked Charles and Camilla? They surrounded them in a car and they said, "Off with their heads", and they meant it. So what's going to happen this time?

It remains to be seen. But for now, Beck is planning on keeping his eye on the group behind these protests, UK Uncut, which he believes is like a leftwing version of the Tea Party, except more violent and dangerous.

This is a nasty new little group. It's a group that was started by a 22-year-old kid who looks like somebody who would date your daughter and you'd be like totally fine with it. He wants to oppose anyone who "is ripping off this country" ? that includes banks or any corporations really, 'cos they're all alike.

The worst thing about UK Uncut is that they have already spawned their "American offspring" (US Uncut). On the plus side, it means Beck will have no shortage of material with which to fill those 24 hours.