Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 10:53 am on April 27, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Mary Katharine Ham points out that Barack Obama has decided to declare war on …. himself?
In his weekly address today, President Obama calls for fiscal discipline and says his administration will eliminate waste and increase efficiency.
“We cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay,” the president says, adding that we must “recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results. It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington.”
Um … okay. The Washington Post noted Deficit-Killer Obama’s hard work on this front in March, when the White House’s own extremely rosy economic forecasts led them to propose spending that would produce the following budget deficits over the next ten years:
Maybe Obama should start by acknowledging that he’s the main cause and problem of the deficits he now attacks.
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
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You forgot the sarc tag Ed.
katy on April 27, 2009 at 10:58 AM
How can anybody with a brain listen to this and not either laugh in his face or scream for impeachment???????
ProfessorMiao on April 27, 2009 at 10:58 AM
DIMWIT !!
Obie, your village called …
We’re screwed.
pambi on April 27, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Match Obama’s talk with graphs like the one in this article and pictures of future headlines touting the recording defecits, and you have a set of campaingn commercials for the next couple of elections.
Some people will fall for this talk now, but it will not be so 1 year from now.
WashJeff on April 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Oblivious to Oblivion…what a path.
right2bright on April 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Orwell would be proud.
blink on April 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM
I saw the headline of this address at Tapper’s Political Punch and scoffed.
What’s with him?
I think Moe Lane at RedState said the other week that irony is dead. So true, the lies that are told and the contradictory actions make this administration a parody. Too bad it’s not a TV program.
INC on April 27, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Probably a good thread on which to stick this link. Read it all. It is from Powerline on the recent IG report involving TARP.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/04/023420.php
a capella on April 27, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Good news.
It means no more bailouts and can start cutting the deficit.
getalife on April 27, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Will the MSM highlight the bitter irony of his remarks?
KS Rex on April 27, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Good news. It means no more bailouts and can start cutting the deficit.
getalife on April 27, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Uh-huh.
KS Rex on April 27, 2009 at 11:05 AM
You are delusional. How much are You paid to troll here?
Can you read the graph?
old trooper2 on April 27, 2009 at 11:06 AM
When I heard him say this, I pretty much spit my coffee all over my lap. You see, he is such a great man of the people that he truly can have his cake and eat it too. His pets in the MSM will only report what he wants them to report, so it’s a win-win situation for him.
TimothyJ on April 27, 2009 at 11:06 AM
What a joke. You have stated before that Barry ‘saved the depression’ by pushing the bailouts and now suddenly you are a fiscal conservative. Go back to your teats now.
Limerick on April 27, 2009 at 11:07 AM
So the response is then to increase the size of government? More welfare & nazionalized healthcare.
More efficient bureaucracies and ending a program here and there is not going to solve the problem. You have to start sacrificing sacred cows such as Medicaid and Medicare.
rbj on April 27, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Well, I thought he would focus on cutting the deficit in his second term but this is even better.
getalife on April 27, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Up until now you’ve been saying he would tackle the deficit in his second term…what gives?
ladyingray on April 27, 2009 at 11:10 AM
It really gets tiresome listening to this mantra. On the whole todays challenges are the same as yesterdays. Just different names and different places.
As I see it the biggest challenge America faces today is an over reaching administration. But again that challenge is not new.
“21st century challenges” is nothing more than a smoke screen for “I have no idea what I’m doing, so what I’m doing is a new way to fight problems”
oldernwiser on April 27, 2009 at 11:10 AM
No more bailouts? Start cutting the deficit?
Ah I see what getalife means here.
Totally tank the US economy. Put our security into the toilet.
Act like a complete, incompetent moron during the 1st 100 days-then ANY improvement from this complete asinine behavior will be seen as an ‘improvement’.
How utterly genius.
Badger40 on April 27, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Sweet observation.
21st century problems are really now different from any in the past.
The only difference I see is that people are actually more ignorant of real life than before.
Badger40 on April 27, 2009 at 11:12 AM
I’m glad the Prince Obama Badministration is going to pilfer through things line by line.
If only they were so exacting on the details of their campaign donations this past fall.
blatantblue on April 27, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Now that we all know you’re a liar for not banning yourself it’s going to be tough to take any of your arguments seriously. Shame, too, I was just starting to be convinced.
BadgerHawk on April 27, 2009 at 11:13 AM
This guy has no idea what he is doing or what he has done. He is completely lost and the only people that have any trust in him are his mindless cult followers and some weak, cowardly liberals that can’t bring themselves to admit they were terribly wrong.
rplat on April 27, 2009 at 11:14 AM
It was less than two months ago that Obama declared that all spending is stimulus.
If so, how can there be any govt waste?
MarkTheGreat on April 27, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Obama’s been spending like crazy and talking fiscal responsibility the whole time. These aren’t gaffes, they are lies. He has no intention of cutting spending, or even reducing it, except for the military. He never has and short of some sort of conversion, never will. “Fiscal Responsibility” means tax increases.
zmdavid on April 27, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Eliminate Conservative Opposition and increase Socialist efficiency, no holds barred, dissolving the US Constitution and our Constitutional Government.
Catch the editorials @ American Thinker.
Yesterday presented another great explication:
Why the Law is Foreign to Ginsberg
By Selwyn Duke
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Should be
He has no intention of cutting spending, or even reducing it’s rate of growth
zmdavid on April 27, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Doesn’t spending cuts threat the Keynesian stimulus.
the_nile on April 27, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Strongly disagree. He’s making a revolution, he is fundamentally changing America in ways that will be impossible to reverse when he’s through. Oh yeah, he’s screwed up on a couple of ‘little things’, like releasing the ‘torture memos’ and leaving the door open to prosecutions. He didn’t expect the fury that erupted over that. But what a handy distraction from his domestic agenda, where nobody is talking much about things like the decision to ram health care ‘reform’ through with a simple majority, no amendments and limited debate.
No, Obama knows exactly what he’s doing. The big picture is revolutionary change, and he’s making it happen in good measure because the big picture isn’t getting much notice.
ProfessorMiao on April 27, 2009 at 11:21 AM
In four years, Obama’s entire First 100 Days (he celebrates at this point) will be BLAMED ON BUSH by the entire DNC Socialism Machine.
No need to hold your breath waiting, either.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 11:22 AM
On point!
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 11:23 AM
If President Pantywaist suddenly decided to change the country’s name to The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Hopenchangia, libtards like getalife the jackass would cheer with orgasmic delight.
OhioCoastie on April 27, 2009 at 11:25 AM
I can’t believe what I’ve just read. This would have been a great statement to make, in oh, I don’t know…JANUARY? But for him to say it now makes it the mother of hypocritical statements of all time and makes him a complete fool. Un freakin believable how he can sit there with a straight face and talk to the American people about wasteful spending when he gobsmacked the country with the biggest pile of pork we’ve ever seen. Totally out of touch with reality, this guy is.
scalleywag on April 27, 2009 at 11:27 AM
This is simple chasing polls and lying through your teeth.
What is more revealing by the statement is what the polling on his spending and the tea party movement must be telling his handlers.
Starlink on April 27, 2009 at 11:30 AM
getalife lives under the delusion that if Obama says the words, they become truth, that they simply happen.
Obama spent us into the deficit that you are saying we need to cut getalife and now denounces the deficits that he helped create. I guess it’s too much to expect you to see that.
Let’s check the numbers tomorrow and see if that deficit is gone…I mean, Obama said it, so it must happen… right?
ManInBlack on April 27, 2009 at 11:35 AM
The man certainly enjoys listening to himself, no matter that he’s lying through his teeth.
Bishop on April 27, 2009 at 11:35 AM
So you think now that he IS aware of the tea parties? That he’s getting a sense that the average American, no matter what party they belong to, is sick and tired of the waste and the intrusion into their lives? And that he’s going to do something about it? Can we possibly hope for that? Or is this just more bs?
scalleywag on April 27, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Obama, the say one thing and do another President.
zmdavid on April 27, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Ed never waste a chance to post a pic of MKH.
mad saint jack on April 27, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Exactly.
Therein, understanding Obama pierces through any explanation of Obama’s words.
Obama and Socialists use Newspeak communicative propaganda.
Any effort to believe a Socialist message according to traditional meaning of words pirated by the Socialists’ into their vocabulary is an exercise in futility and delusional self destruction.
Jumping onto the gullible bandwagon because of its popular appeal does not make joining the mob mentality APPROPRIATE. It merely facilitates the speed of your loss. Stuff your faces while you can because there will be no cake tomorrow, dhimmi comrade serfs. That pie in the sky belongs to the authoritarian RULERS, not to their stupid followers, regardless of how “clever” followers consider themselves. They brand themselves as masochistic sadists.
I repudiate the positions of people who refuse to recognize the deplorable living conditions in every communist nation, the way it has been for a century in Russia and nearly as long in China, the way brutal dictators of various Socialist masks in South America abuse their populations, the way that Obama ignores and abuses the US Constitution.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 11:44 AM
That explains the earphones during the campaign flights. Constantly plugging his ears to reporters and eschewing all conversation, insisting that he’d ‘already answered like 8 questions’ after only three.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Yea, funny how that never makes it into any of his speeches. And likely never will.
scalleywag on April 27, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Wow, very good.
And President Obama said it with his voice dripping condescension for any dumbo who was too stupid to understand.
President Obama, you too are now Dumbo.
jeff_from_mpls on April 27, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Stimulus bka Porkulus who is surprised we have a swine flu breakout?
Pigs Feet Dupree “The Swine Flu Blues”
Dr Evil on April 27, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Yeah, this stunt of his practically blew me away. I listened with my jaw hanging to my chest that he could actually say all of this with a straight face.
What really blew it totally out of proportion for me though, was when he brought up “paygo” or however its said/spelled again. Its a good idea, and I had to give the dems credit for it under Clinton. But then under Bush they said “we are bringing back paygo” when they took control…and gave lipservice to the whole idea as the spending started then. And now, Mr. Hope and Change himself says the word “paygo” after the spending that HE has implemented, and it just about drives me mental with how deranged and lunatic it sounds.
Highlar on April 27, 2009 at 11:56 AM
No, Goebbels would be proud.
Orwell would be pulling his hair out in frustration. “1984″ was supposed to be a warning against this kind of thing.
Count to 10 on April 27, 2009 at 11:57 AM
So sad,but true. Far too many of todays voters grew up over protected, over indulged,over stimulated and overfed. While at the same time undereducated in areas that should have prepared them for life in the real world. It seems that the basics of economy, the importance of history and truth of our enumerated (but not “all encompassing”) freedoms are no longer being taught. Instead they are taught that they are the most important person to have ever been born. Everyone else is at some level beneath them. Those that deign to disagree are the flotsam and jetsam of humanity.The word humility is foreign to them. I seriously doubt if the majority of these ever try to foresee the consequences of their actions. they cannot see 3 or 4 moves ahead let alone 1.
To end my rant; As I sit here typing this I have to listen to the bass beat coming from a house 1/4 mil away. Consideration is as foreign as humility.
oldernwiser on April 27, 2009 at 12:01 PM
“Pilfer”?
Wait, on second thought, that makes a horrifying amount of sense.
Count to 10 on April 27, 2009 at 12:02 PM
At 39, I often feel in the minority of my generation. So many are extremely narcissistic & self important.
And the current generations are even worse.
My mother in law actually got mad at her son (my husband) bcs he dared to discipline his daughter by not allowing her to attend an after prom party (she’s a Sr) bcs she had lied to us a while back.
My husband could not understand why his mother would want a kid to get away with something like that.
I guess these people are in all generations.
Badger40 on April 27, 2009 at 12:05 PM
His sick spending will go into remission for 1 day? His narcissistic spending is not curable by him.
seven on April 27, 2009 at 12:10 PM
He is responding to voices in his head. They tell him to pump up taxes. He can also print a new 3 dollar bill.
He mentions cutting 2 trillion dollars in deficits. Why not prevent the deficits to begin with?
He is so retarded regarding basic economic theory. Makes Carter look like an Econ prof.
seven on April 27, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I believe you are. The generation who had to learn how to survive during the great depression, grew up strong and self reliant. Adding to this education they also had to fight WWII. Coming out of that they vowed that their children would never have to deal with those issues.
Hindsight being twenty-twenty, it was their trials that made them “The Greatest Generation”, and their vows that make their children and grandchildren the morally weakest.
oldernwiser on April 27, 2009 at 12:17 PM
My sentiments all along. They unfortunately parented a generation of pukes.
I imagine they were all worn out by this time.
Badger40 on April 27, 2009 at 12:40 PM
I await the day when Obama comes to the podium in August of this year and announces that, due to the fact that the projected deficits expected in 2010 and 2011 which he inherited from Bush are larger than expected, he has little choice but to raise the taxes of anyone making more that $12,000 per year.
Will there then be outrage from the 63% who think he is doing a good job?
Yoop on April 27, 2009 at 12:43 PM
What’s older and staler than throwing taxpayers’ money at every perceived problem and using the tax code for social engineering?
rockmom on April 27, 2009 at 12:50 PM
He has to stop MAKING the deficits before he can even pretend to start cutting them.
Right after he destroys most of the private employment providers in this country….
and right before he confiscates all private property and financial holdings to pay for the elite’s medical care while we all get to visit walk in clinics run by first year interns paid minimum wage.
Yeah…I vote no on that one.
Spiritk9 on April 27, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Question is, why are the CBO’s numbers always so far off from those that the White House gives?
Oh, that’s right, TurboTax Timmy is running the show at the White House. He uses unconventional accounting methods.
I watched about 2.4 seconds of this video. An absolute joke, it is. Prince Barry seems to be smirking at the camera as he delivers line after line of BS. It’s as though he’s thinking to himself, “I know those idiots out there will buy every word of this.”
And sadly, they will. Except for a handful of us who see it for what it is: nothing but utter, bald faced lies.
UltimateBob on April 27, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Where are the Republicans to shout from the rooftops: “We agree! Why, then, do YOU want to quadruple the deficits?”
Steve Z on April 27, 2009 at 1:28 PM
I wonder if he is going to show up at Notre Dame and warn us about all the abortions?
Hey, it would be consistent…
IlikedAUH2O on April 27, 2009 at 1:42 PM
I expect the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post will have in-depth reports on Obama’s cynical pandering and hypocrisy any moment now….any moment now…wait for it…
SKYFOX on April 27, 2009 at 1:52 PM
blink on April 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM
I was thinking the same thing.
Newspeak at its finest…
catmman on April 27, 2009 at 2:10 PM
It really sounds like he is counting on the majority of Americans to hear and believe only his aphorisms, rather than look at what he’s doing. My fear is that he’s right.
mikeyboss on April 27, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Wow, I am kind of disappointed that the usually really astute, very wise foks here at HotAir missed the code word in Barry’s message.
Think about it. He proposes a audaciously, audacious, breathtakingly gargantuant increase in the budget this year. And an astonishingly large increase in the one year deficit. Just breathtakingly audacious. And because it is so huge, it has caught everyone just off balance. Where to you begin to attack that level of spending? We just can’t get our brains wrapped around it. So it slides through Congress relatively easily. That reconciliation thing is a pretty nifty trick to get around any need to negotiate this with any Republicans in Congress. Wow, with reconciliation, we don’t even need traitors like Snow, Specter and the other gal in Maine.
Meanwhile, back to my point. Because we KNOW there are NO PLANS to CUT spending, they screwed up and started to mention PAYGO. See, we conservatives think “cut spending” when we hear “reduce deficits”. Seem like a logical thing to do since we all know that government has massive waste in any budget. But they are talking about PAYGO. That is CODE for TAX INCREASES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are going to get another clintonesque, “gee I never worked so hard in my life for that tax cut, but it is just impossible to do now, with the budget deficit and all”. And, some talking head on one of those shows this weekend was really emphasizing that the “generous” $400 deal was a ONE TIME THING. Hmmm
Connect the dots. Bend over people, they are going to ram it up our arsses so far, we won’t even see what they shoved in there.
And did you guys hear Rush today? Turns out Obama’s http://www.makehomesaffordable.gov or whatever that website was supposed to be, is nothing but a lead harvest program for law firms to call desperate people and charge them money up front only to tell them later, “gee, we couldn’t do anything with your lender, sorry”. Meanwhile the media is still having their obasm over the mere idea the obama has set up a website to help those in danger of losing their homes.
We have to get really vocal about this. Start telling everyone you know what a fraud this guy is. Give these sheeple facts. Eventually they will come out of their koolaid stupor.
karenhasfreedom on April 27, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Good Luck! No matter how hard you try you will not change their minds. We have seen it right here on Hot Air. Time and time again the “believers” will be presented with facts only to ignore them. They won’t believe you because they don’t want to believe you. When all this idiotic spending finally collapses their world around them, they will blame the failing of the spendathon on Republican obstructionists who wouldn’t let Obama get everything he wanted. Never mind that the opposition voices were never allowed to be heard. To them that is not germane.
oldernwiser on April 27, 2009 at 4:04 PM
BUZZING LADY LIBERTY WITH AIRFORCE ONE
PHOTO OP ohne Obama.
“Insensitive”
Wasteful.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Karen: good point, and one that is not lost on conservatives, I assure you. I have been talking about this for years – that the left has “hijacked” the term “Fiscal Responsibility.” I remember Clinton threw that phrase around quite a bit.
To me, the term “Fiscal Responsibility” is tainted. While its original meaning likely referred to responsible spending coupled with low taxes, it has come to mean “spend as much as you want, just tax the hell out of people to pay for it.” Thanks to the left. And the Obama admin has taken it to an entirely new level.
BTW… that $400 tax rebate that you mentioned is a sham. I have read that it is not a rebate but a change in the withholding tables. In other words, that $13 per week that you see in your paycheck (if you even noticed – I didn’t) is due to the fact that less is being withheld from your pay. You will have to pay it back next April 15 when you do your federal taxes.
UltimateBob on April 27, 2009 at 5:04 PM
BUZZING LADY LIBERTY WITH AIRFORCE ONE
Obama has gone from never wasting opportunism of a crisis TO COERCING CRISIS out of thin air.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Fixed.
landlines on April 28, 2009 at 1:18 AM
Second Term? Keep dreaming.
Theophile on April 28, 2009 at 5:10 AM