Speaker Boehner: “The president checked out last Labor Day.”
Today CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer sat down with House Speaker John Boehner to discuss a range of political and congressional issues. The full interview aired today in the 4 p.m. ET hour of CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Highlights from the interview are after the jump and visit http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/sitroom.html for a full transcript of Blitzer’s interview.
Wolf Blitzer takes you behind the scenes of his interview with the Speaker: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2012/07/19/wolf-blitzer-behind-the-scenes.cnn
Please credit all usage of the information to CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
Highlights from the Full Interview
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED
On Being Speaker:
BLITZER: One final question, because we’re out of time.
You’re about to celebrate your second anniversary, right, as speaker?
BOEHNER: Well, assuming that we win the — the majority in November.
BLITZER: What’s it like? I mean what is, you know, you’re — we all know your personal story growing up in Cincinnati. And, you know, it’s an amazing story. And where you think about it, here you are, the speaker of the House of Representatives. You’re up on Capitol Hill. We’re talking right now. It’s an amazing story, when you think about it.
BOEHNER: It really is. But, you know, welcome to America, where you can be anything you want to be and do anything you want to do. And it’s the only country in the world where there — there’s no lid, there’s no cap on what you can achieve when you set your mind to it.
BLITZER: So you think about those roots you had there and you see what you’re doing right now…
BOEHNER: Well, you’re busy around here, you forget about it. But every once in a while you look up and you go, why am I here?
Why me?
BLITZER: What do you say?
BOEHNER: Welcome to America.
On The President:
BLITZER: All right, let’s talk about President Obama, because yesterday, you said this — I’m going to read it to you. “I think the president’s attack on the private sector in America is exactly what’s wrong with his administration. He doesn’t give a damn about the middle class Americans who are out there looking for work. What he’s trying to do is distract the American people in order to win his own reelection.”
Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States doesn’t give a damn about middle class Americans?
BOEHNER: If he did, why wouldn’t he meet with his own Jobs Council?
Why wouldn’t he spent some time over the last nine months talking to the leaders here in Congress about what we can do together to help get our economy going again?
The president checked out last Labor Day. And he’s been on the campaign trail nonstop ever since. It’s all about him,
When the American people elect us because it’s about them.
On Syria:
BLITZER: A quick question on Syria right now. There seems to be a tipping point in what’s going on.
Would you support U.S. military action, not necessarily troops on the ground, but air power, cruise missiles, arming of the rebels?
Would you go that far at this point to get rid of Bashar al-Assad?
BOEHNER: I don’t think that — that we ought to go that far. Now, it’s clear that the opposition is making progress. It’s also clear that they are receiving assistance from — from their friends in the region.
And I don’t think, at this point, that it calls for that type of military intervention on our part.
BLITZER: So on this issue, you’re with the Obama administration, basically, and not, let’s say, with John McCain?
BOEHNER: I — I’ve — that’s probably correct, because I believe that Assad has to go. But I don’t think that we need to over — overly involve ourselves to the extent of — of direct military action. So I’m — I’m confident that the opposition groups, they’re making progress and I’m confident that Assad’s days are numbered.
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