Hatch: U.S. would 'lose stature'

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Monday that the United States will “lose a lot of stature throughout the world” if Barack Obama is elected president.

Looking forward to a potential Obama administration in an interview with CNN, Hatch said, “If you think you've got big spending now, wait till you see what happens then. Wait till you see when you don't have a Supreme Court that's going to stand up and do what's right. Wait till you see what's going to happen when they spend $1 trillion more.”


“We're going to lose a lot of stature throughout the world because we have somebody who, though eloquent and a very nice person, who I like, who doesn't know what he's talking about,” he added.

The Utah Republican slammed Obama’s planned middle class tax cut, saying it would “cost a fortune” and suggested that the Democrat wishes to recreate “the old welfare state.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday, Hatch predicted McCain will catch Obama with a strong break by independents toward the Arizona senator.

“I think McCain is going to be the Truman against Dewey in this particular race,” Hatch said. “John is coming up very fast. You'll notice in most of these polls Barack Obama is less than 50 percent.”

“A lot of people are starting to realize that, look, are we going to turn over the greatest country in the world, with all the myriad problems we have, especially in foreign policy and national security, to somebody who has really virtually no experience whatsoever in those areas just because that person gives a good speech.”