Gingrich says Obama can’t blame Bush: ‘Get over it’

In advance of President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight, Newt Gingrich hammered at the president’s track record, arguing on Tuesday that he has implemented a radical agenda that has strangled the nation’s economy and increased its vulnerability around the world.

“Tonight, the president will explain it was all George W. Bush’s fault,” Gingrich told more than 2,000 supporters gathered in an airport hangar. “This is the fourth year of his presidency, he needs to get over it.”

Gingrich repeatedly sought to paint the president as out-of-touch with traditional American values.

“You always have to wonder when Obama speaks, which country he thinks he’s talking to. You also have to wonder what his source material is,” the former House speaker said. “You can really understand him best when you understand that he is a Saul Alinsky radical who taught radicalism in Chicago. I’m an old-fashioned American and I think the primary documents are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.”

Gingrich said he wondered what planet Obama was on.

“He doesn’t seem to operate in the same planet you and I do,” he said. “Planet Obama, somewhere out there.”

When discussing the Lincoln-Douglas-style debates he would propose to Obama if he is the GOP nominee, Gingrich noted that he was a history buff.

“And unlike the president, I studied American history,” he said.

Gingrich, sounding confident that he could beat back Republican rival Mitt Romney’s deep fundraising and organizational advantage, looked forward to a general election fight with Obama. He contrasted the job creation that occurred when he worked with President Reagan in the 1980s, and during his tenure as House speaker in the late 1990s, with economic statistics under the Obama administration.

“My central theme this fall will be jobs and a paycheck presidency designed to create independence for every American,” Gingrich said. “The president has been the best food stamp president in American history. So he’ll get to run on food stamps and unemployment. I believe that there are no neighborhoods in America where a parent picks food stamps and dependency over paychecks and jobs for their children’s future.”

As he sought the crowd’s support in Tuesday’s Republican primary, Gingrich emphasized that his campaign effort must transcend partisan politics.

“While I’m running for the Republican nomination, the campaign we, all of us are going to run this fall, will be an American campaign,” he said, as the crowd chanted “USA! USA! USA!” “