Obamateurism of the Day

posted at 8:05 am on May 15, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Thanks to Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit for catching this jaw-dropping hypocrisy from Barack Obama during his commencement speech at Arizona State University. Perhaps the heat in Tempe got to the President, but then he repeated himself in Albuquerque yesterday. Either way, this line should have gotten laughs rather than applause:

We’ve become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn’t reckless deals and get-rich-quick schemes that got us there; but hard work and smart ideas -quality products and wise investments. So we started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings.

He then scolded a town-hall audience in Albuquerque about borrowing money from China:

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

Just a reminder about the spending plans for the President who derided the American habit of “living on credit”:

See all that red going downwards? That’s Obama having America live on credit for the next decade at a higher rate in terms of real dollars and percentage of GDP than any American president since FDR. He has the least amount of standing to talk about spending within one’s own means of anyone in Washington DC.

Feeling “dampened” yet?  We’re positively soaked, and there’s a big storm a-comin’.

I’ll be on vacation for the next week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t send your suggestions for 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.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!

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