On the November 4 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, G. Gordon Liddy spoke to a caller who stated: “I'm ready to go to the concentration camp, that [Sen. Barack] Obama's police force -- he will round me up. Because I -- I'm a white American.” Liddy then said, “Well, listen to this,” and aired an edited clip of Obama saying in a July 2 speech in Colorado Springs: “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” Liddy then stated: “Shades of the Gestapo. The Geheime Staatspolizei,” to which the caller replied: “How's the cooking going to be? What will -- what will they serve, at the camp?” Liddy responded: “Well, I think, probably, there'll be ham hocks and turnip greens.”
In fact, Obama's comments about the necessity of a “civilian national security force” referred not to creating a national police force, but to expanding AmeriCorps and other programs. From Obama's July 2 speech in Colorado Springs, Colorado:
Today, AmeriCorps -- our nation's network of local, state, and national service programs -- has 75,000 slots. And I know firsthand the quality of these programs. My wife, Michelle, once left her job at a law firm and at City Hall to be a founding director of an AmeriCorps program in Chicago that trains young people for careers in public service. And these programs invest Americans in their communities and their country. They tap America's greatest resource -- our citizens.
And that's why as president, I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their efforts connected to a common purpose. People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem -- they are the answer.
So we are going to send -- we're going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an Energy Corps to conduct renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects in their neighborhoods all across the country. We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, to be there for our military families. And we're going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered, and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy.
We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
From the November 4 broadcast of Radio America's The G. Gordon Liddy Show:
LIDDY: Rich, you are on air.
CALLER: Well, Mr. Liddy, thank you for your arresting of Dr. [Timothy] Leary, when the LSD raid -- I appreciate that very much. And I -- I'm ready to go to the concentration camp, that Obama's police force -- he will round me up.
LIDDY: Well --
CALLER: Because I -- I'm a white American.
LIDDY: Well, listen to this, Rich.
OBAMA [audio clip]: We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
CALLER: Mr. Liddy, how -- how's the cooking -- how's the cooking -- are they gonna feed us?
LIDDY: Shades of the Gestapo. The Geheime Staatspolizei.
CALLER: How's the cooking going to be? What will -- what will they serve, at the camp? I'm ready to go. Then they'll alleviate my debt that I have. They'll -- they'll put me in a concentration camp.
LIDDY: Well, I think, probably, there'll be ham hocks and turnip greens.
CALLER: Mr. Liddy, God bless you. You're great. I love you very much. Take it easy, Mr. Liddy.
LIDDY: Thank you, Rich.
CALLER: Bye.
LIDDY: Bye-bye.