MR. DRISCOLL: Monica, as a result of the GOP’s abortive 2012 presidential effort, leftwing house organs such as the New York Times were quick to say that the Republicans are finished, and the left dusted-off some of the same “We Are All Socialists Now” arguments that were left over from four years ago. But the GOP controls one house of Congress and a majority of state governments. We talked about Obama’s success in 2012 and his transformational goals, but what’s your take on the state of the GOP today?

MS. CROWLEY:  It’s really interesting.  I’m glad you raised that question, Ed, because I think over the next four years, certainly, we are going to see — we’re going to see federalism come to the fore.  We’re going to see that Tenth Amendment rise.

And the reason is, because as you mentioned, Republicans now control thirty out of fifty governorships.  We control the vast majority of state houses across the country.  And it’s been a very interesting phenomenon to watch, because those offices are closer to the people than the presidency and then Washington, Congress, the Senate, and so on.

So when people have a choice, when they think that their vote will actually matter to their direct lives, meaning governor, state houses, they’re going more conservative.  They’re going toward conservative governors, not even just Republican governors, but conservative governors, in most states.

California, obviously exempted, which is what you started talking about.  Illinois, New York, where I live — I mean, those are kind of lost causes.  But in the vast majority of states, we’re seeing people voting for the offices that are closest to them, most directly intertwined with their lives going conservative.

And so what I think you’re going to see is a real tension — and we already see this tension now, but I think it’s going to increase — between Washington, the federal government, and the states.  And we’re going to see the states, as they’re starting to do now, on gun control, on immigration, like Arizona with Jan Brewer, some other states, on a whole range of issues, you’re going to see the states pushing back and asserting their rights on behalf of the people that put them into office.

Taking on the federal government is a really tough thing, especially now, because it’s so big and it’s so powerful under Obama.  But I think you’re going to see an increase in states going forward with their own agendas and pushing back on Washington.  And I think you’ll see them get rewarded for that.

MR. DRISCOLL:  Monica, let’s talk for a moment about foreign policy, which is one of the subjects you explore in What the (Bleep) Just Happened Again. On the one hand, Barack Obama has come under increasing fire from the left for his use of drones in the Middle East, and for not closing Guantanamo Bay. On the other, he’s demonstrated plenty of naiveté regarding Iran and the Arab Spring in general. What’s your take on Obama and the Middle East?

MS. CROWLEY:  Well, actually, I would take issue with your supposition that Obama is naive.  Because as I argue in this book, he’s not naive in the least.  This is a man who we were told, in 2008, Ed, had something like 170 IQ and was just such a hyper genius, was actually too brilliant for us.  Remember that?

Well, then you can’t have it both ways.  You can’t say well, he’s brilliant, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing. This is a man who knows exactly what he is doing.  There has been no naivete on Iran.  I actually believe he wants Iran to get a nuclear weapon.  He has done nothing to stop Iran.  Those sanctions that his administration put into place are toothless.  The Iranians have found every way to get around them.

He has done nothing but stall.  And the Iranians have used that time to go ahead and a) slaughter their own people in the streets when they revolted in 2009; and b) try to acquire a nuclear weapon.  And they are getting there with every passing hour, Ed.  This president has done nothing to stop them, on purpose.

I would also say on the Arab Spring, this is a man who wants to see the rise of the Islamists.  He wants to see the rise of the Islamists across the board, and that is why he threw over a long time ally of the United States, Husni Mubarak in Egypt.  That is why he paved the way for Muammar Gaddafi, who yes, was a longstanding terrorist, but over recent years Gaddafi was trying to reach out to the United States and providing us with crucial intelligence on the movements of  Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood across Northern Africa.  And now we see what a problem that is.  This president then went to facilitate his overthrow as well.

Why hasn’t he moved in Syria, where you have, what, upwards of maybe 40,000 people slaughtered under the Assad regime?  Well, it’s because he’s been waiting for the Muslim Brotherhood to be poised and ready to take control there as well.

This is a man who knows exactly what he is doing.  It is incredibly dangerous.  It is completely antithetical to American interests.  And now here we are.  And we see it with China.  He hasn’t taken on China.  China continues to be a currency manipulator, getting very aggressive along the Pacific Rim, with very close allies of ours, like Japan and South Korea.  Obama hasn’t lifted a finger.  North Koreans just tested another nuclear weapon.  No consequences from the United States.

Vladimir Putin — I have a friend of mine who does a lot of work in Russia close to the Kremlin.  He said yeah, when Obama said to Medvedev he’ll have more flexibility after he’s reelected, well, Putin now knows he can go to town and extort the near abroad on energy and the rest of it, and play the United States and get away with it.  And that’s what Putin’s doing too.

This president came into office with a far left ideology, Ed, of wanting to take down America a notch or two or ten abroad, because we are not worthy.  America’s full of sin from the past, and we have had our way around the world, and now it’s time we pay the price.

So I would argue, and I argue in this book, that his whole philosophy is all being carried out and it’s all deliberate and it’s all on purpose.  There is no incompetence.  There’s no naivete.  It’s being carried out exactly as he’d like to see it.