Speaking at the Republicans' 2009 Senate-House Dinner, the potential 2012 presidential candidate said Obama was overmatched and that the maneuver represented poor political planning by Obama’s political staff.
“(Cheney) actually understands the issue,” Gingrich said. “The great difference between Reagan’s rhetorical skills and President Obama’s rhetorical skills are that Reagan used his rhetorical skills to shine light on truths and facts, while Obama uses his to rhetorical skills to hide” from those things.
“I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican; I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican,” Gingrich said. “And the majority Republican Party will have lots of debates within the party. That is the nature of majorities.”
Gingrich noted that Reagan was elected when Republicans represented less than a quarter of the country, and that Reagan always, in his speeches, reached out to independents and disillusioned Democrats.
At the same time, Gingrich emphasized Republicans should stick to three key principles: strengthening the American civilization, strengthening the nation and its security, and building an economy that has the best jobs in the world.
“I think our goal should be to reach out to the American people in every possible way, to make sure that John Boehner becomes the Speaker of the House January of 2011 and Mitch McConnell becomes the Senate majority leader and that this is a one-term presidency, in the Jimmy Carter tradition,” Mr Gingrich said. His comments echoed a sentiment Mr. Boehner had mentioned earlier, when he called on the audience to help him “make sure Nancy Pelosi doesn’t spend one more day in the Speaker’s chair.”
At other points in his speech, Gingrich railed against the notion of being a “citizen of the world,” as well as quotas. He referenced the dust-up over video showing Obama bending while greeting Saudi King Abdullah at the G-20 summit in April, "Bowing to the Saudi king is not an energy policy," Gingrich said.
“And before you say it can’t be done, let me remind you of Jon Voight’s great quote ‘do not tell me it can’t be done,’” Mr. Gingrich said. “It was true for FDR. It’s true for us.”
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