CALLER: Well, that’s my second point, Rush. That’s my second point. A lot of people are coming out — or not a lot, but people are saying, “Why didn’t the president come out, directly say, ‘Stop this looting. Stop this rioting.’ As a minority man, he should be able to have more influence with the population there.”
RUSH: Well, he did.
CALLER: My suggestion to you is he didn’t dare do that because they wouldn’t have listened to him. So he would have completely lost whatever shred of credibility he actually does have or believes he had. I think he didn’t dare come out and make a direct statement “stop the looting” because nobody would have listened to him.
RUSH: Well, I think there’s truth to that. I think he might not have made a direct appeal — (interruption) no, no. This is a good point. He might not have made a direct appeal because he wouldn’t want to run the risk that they don’t listen to him, and that blows everything. I mean, here’s the first African-American president, a messiah, a man who was gonna change everything, a man with a direct line. His words are magic and whatever he says people listen to and react.
So if he makes a direct appeal and they don’t listen to him, it doesn’t look good, there’s no question. And I don’t doubt that calculations like that are made by all kinds of politicians. Not just politicians, but public figures in general. The news media is constantly searching for ways to prove they still have the ability to move public opinion, for example.