America is, uh, is no longer, uh, what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, 'I don’t want that future for my children.'
Viewing this comment as a major gaffe, Hewitt parses Obama's response as follows:
Obama's verdict -- delivered in a few words to a very young American -- is that America has gone radically wrong. And that it will require radical change.
Hewitt concludes:
Let's take Obama at his word to a child: If he is elected, Obama sees his job as reshaping America in a fundamental way. In a radical way.Politicians say a lot of things, many off the cuff as this was. I suspect Hewitt has read too much into this comment, what do you think?
Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh is reported to have commented about this gaffe:
It’s a 7-year-old, senator. Ya tell her, ‘because you love the country.’ You tell her because this is the greatest place on Earth -- that we’ve got challenges, but you want to help the country through it. You don’t tell a seven-year-old that her country isn’t what it once was. You do not lie to 7-year-olds and tell them that your country sucks. You just don’t do it, Senator
