Hume: 'The Scandals Taken Together Add Up to a Series of Failures'

On Tuesday’s “The Kelly File,” Fox New senior political analyst Brit Hume discussed President Barack Obama’s series of political missteps that some have suggested have led to his low polling.

According to Hume, Obama was dealing with “negative conditions” that rival any president since Franklin Roosevelt “with World War II in the depression that at the same time.”

Partial transcript as follows:

KELLY: Brit Hume is our Fox News senior political analyst. Brit, what a difference. I know you were there. You were a lead political anchor, a lead anchor during those 2008 festivities. I was there and you were there, I remember standing in the middle of those crowds, and the enthusiasm, the enthusiasm, the belief that this was going to be a different man, a different politician, that he was going to change the future of this country and as promised, the world. Here are some shots of me taking in the crowd. And what a difference now. I realize getting off the plane on a tarmac is a different experience. But these are Democrats who don’t want to be seen with him.

HUME: Yes, at the moment, this president is politically radioactive. He is confronted now with as bad a set and as extensive a set of woes and troubles as any president at anytime that I can remember. I suppose if you know, posit Franklin Roosevelt with World War II in the depression that at the same time, those two events were huge, of course, and he had to confront both of them. And had been for some time, but this latest array, I mean, you can barely count them all, you know, between the VA and the terrible situation in the Middle East.

Iraq and Syria, Israel and the Palestinians. Israel is on high alert tonight, because the situation deteriorating. You know, you have Russia on the march, although he may have gotten a bit of a break on that. You have this horrible situation down on the border, and the terrible political dilemma that it brings with it, not to mention the, you know, I guess I didn’t mention the — I mentioned the VA scandal. The IRS situation is percolating again. I mean, this is quite a catalog. And quite a burden for him. And he, therefore, is quite a burden on those who are seeking re- election this year.

KELLY: I mean, is this — has he just failed? Has he just failed in his job as the president?

HUME: Well, if you’re judging by the results, I mean, you start with the economy, this was job one, I think, you know, by everybody’s estimation. That was the issue really that elected him, and not all the grandiose promises about changing the world. We had a terrible recession that got horribly worse right in the middle of the election campaign. That’s what elected the man. And we have had, you know, a recovery that began soon after he was elected and it’s turned out to be the most — the dreariest slowest recovery that we’ve had since World War II. And it’s still dragging on. We had the economy shrink in the first quarter of this year, unemployment, although it came down, the rate came down as persistently high.

I mean, these are very negative conditions, and that, you look at that, he hasn’t — that’s a failing. The scandals taken together add up to a series of failures. You look around the world, I mean, he’s leaving Afghanistan, but his departure from Iraq certainly hasn’t left the situation — it’s certainly way worse than the situation he inherited there, across the Middle East, you have all these troubles. I mean, these are bad results — this is — and the President for better or for worse gets the blame, the political blame and the credit for how things go in the world and in the country on his watch.

KELLY: How about these Democrats? I mean, John Hickenlooper stood up there before, you know, before, actually, we have a little sound bite cued up. This is the man who tonight won’t be seen with the President talking about Barack Obama back in 2008 at Invesco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, THEN-MAYOR OF DENVER: The new ideas and leaderships of Barack Obama have electrified this region. New ideas and leadership for America that appeals to our optimism, our entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: They electrified Denver, and now tonight — I would love to be — I’m busy.

HUME: I mean, Megyn, just doing this with these guys, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I mean —

KELLY: How about Senator Udall? He would have been public, but then he goes off to behind closed doors meeting. That’s what mean, a hypocrite.

HUME: Well, this is a way, this is the hard reality of being president. When you’re riding high, they all want to be seen with you, and when you’re not riding high, you remain within your party a fund-raising superstar, so they’re already with you behind closed doors, because they want the money that you can raise, and all presidents can. But they don’t want to be seen with you in public. Politics is tough business.

KELLY: If I was President Obama, I would start my meeting with Senator Udall behind closed doors with the handshake that says, this is not friendship. All right. I have to go. See you, Brit.

HUME: All right, Megyn.

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