Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on June 1, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Last week, Barack Obama announced the creation of a cyber security czar, giving his administration more czars than the Russian Empire, but that’s another issue altogether. In order to convince Americans of the necessity of such a position, Obama gave us this dire scenario in his speech:
In short, America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.
And this is also a matter of public safety and national security. We count on computer networks to deliver our oil and gas, our power and our water. We rely on them for public transportation and air traffic control. Yet we know that cyber intruders have probed our electrical grid and that in other countries cyber attacks have plunged entire cities into darkness.
Rob Rosenberger at Vmyths, a site dedicated to debunking urban legends about cyberspace, says the President has basically told a boogeyman story:
It’s an urban legend because no one knows any details whatsoever. To be specific:
- Who plunged entire cities into darkness with the click of a mouse? No one knows.
- When did these cyber-terrorists plunge entire cities into darkness with the click of a mouse? No one knows.
- Where are these cities that plunged into darkness with the click of a mouse? No one knows.
- Why did the cyber-terrorists plunge these cities into darkness with the click of a mouse? No one knows.
- How widespread were these cyber-terror blackouts? No one knows.
- Whose power grid Internet connection did the cyber-terrorists exploit? No one knows.
- How many victims perished in these cyber-attacks? No one knows.
The CIA made that claim in January 2008, which Rosenberger debunked at the time, and no one has given any of the details to rebut him since. It’s also worth noting that the “smart grid” that Obama champions would be particularly vulnerable to a hack attack that would do exactly what Obama says here.
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.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
Does Interpol want to extradite a U.S. citizen so he can stand trial on charges of cyber-terrorism? No one knows. What did it cost to clean up after these cyber-terror attacks? No one knows.
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Fear is a great way to keep people in line. L’il Kim and Chavez use it to great effect, as our Dear Leader is trying.
BTW, nice shout out from Day by Day, Ed.
rbj on June 1, 2009 at 8:10 AM
WTF?
The only thing we have to fear… is Obama’s fear mongering.
singlemalt_18 on June 1, 2009 at 8:12 AM
I’m not entirely sure, but I think “blackout” is racist, not to mention “boogeyman”.
SouthernGent on June 1, 2009 at 8:12 AM
It’s also worth noting that the “smart grid” that Obama champions would be particularly vulnerable to a hack attack that would do exactly what Obama says here.Yes, Obama’s “smart grid” would make cities much more vulnerable to terrorists, and our entire population more vulnerable to Big Brother.
petefrt on June 1, 2009 at 8:13 AM
“Don’t worry, little people of the USA, I will protect you!”
jgapinoy on June 1, 2009 at 8:13 AM
…and only in the movies!
singlemalt_18 on June 1, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Oops, make that a quote, not a strike.
Pass the coffee, please.
petefrt on June 1, 2009 at 8:14 AM
I bet Mr. President also thinks that if it wasn’t for Edison, we wouold all be sitting at our computers under candlelight.
kingsjester on June 1, 2009 at 8:15 AM
The left accused the Bush administration of fear-mongering at every turn over terrorism. But that IS a legitimate threat. The Obama administration is engaging in fear-mongering over a bunch of crap that is debatable at best:
“Global warming/climate change”
Health care “crisis”
Hackers shutting down electrical grids
flipflop on June 1, 2009 at 8:16 AM
Fear mongering is the work of dictators.
shick on June 1, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Maybe he’s talking about fictional countries? I’m sure it happened in a Tom Clancy novel.
LibTired (KO) on June 1, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Sometimes I wish they would shut down the grid. My bill would be cheaper that way.
boomer on June 1, 2009 at 8:21 AM
did you read in the GreenRoom that ted kennedy may unveil his health care program today?
dr. tiller’s murder is a distraction that might keep the focus from that.
write your congressman!
kelley in virginia on June 1, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Our Boogeyman in Chief has transformed the debate. He’s replaced efficiency and cost-effectiveness with (manufactured) crisis and necessity.
petefrt on June 1, 2009 at 8:23 AM
And without them TOTUS would not function.
Disturb the Universe on June 1, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Didn’t Estonia suffer some pretty serious cyberattacks recently? I have no idea if cities blacked out, but it was real.
aero on June 1, 2009 at 8:27 AM
This president likes to talk in extremes and negativity. He speaks of dire urgency and likes to induce fear. He had a good opening scene but as the play moves forward, he will start to sound like the boy who cried wolf. At one point, people are going to get fed up with his histrionics.
sherry on June 1, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Gee,
I wonder “who” will pay for all this “cyber-security” ???
franksalterego on June 1, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Don’t blame Oboingo for the fear mongering: didn’t he inherit it from Bush or something?
What a complete tool, just making $#!+ up as he goes along: anything to manufacture an “national crisis” that, of course, knows no remedy short of spending billions.
Wake up America, you’re being screwed!
mr.blacksheep on June 1, 2009 at 8:29 AM
oh boy, the entity that keeps losing laptops with secret data, whose main frame computers get hacked on a regular basis and picks up major viruses is now going to protect you and me from the unknown! I’m feeling very safe indeed.
katablog.com on June 1, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Well you have to admit that we were all in the dark about 7 of the 57 states so maybe there are a few countries out there we don’t know about.
katablog.com on June 1, 2009 at 8:33 AM
Yet another in a long line of examples of things this man does that should lower his poll numbers…
However, a quick look at the daily tracking poll on Rasmussen shows he’s back up to +10 on presidential approval index.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Barrack on June 1, 2009 at 8:34 AM
I dunno… but I bet they were mostly women and minorities.
mankai on June 1, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Damn, that’s funny! You’ve been on a roll lately SG.. :)
Keemo on June 1, 2009 at 8:37 AM
LOL — poor Ed, the “hotness factor” was not a concern in the design of his clone. ;-)
KS Rex on June 1, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Typical hyperbole from Big O — he not only trots out straw men in every speech, now he’s using straw bogeymen.
KS Rex on June 1, 2009 at 8:45 AM
The Blackout of 2003 or whatever was fun
But I don’t want to do that again.
blatantblue on June 1, 2009 at 8:47 AM
I think Obama himself wants to purge our electrical grid and plunge entire cities into darkness leaving them waiting for the wind to blow or the sun to come out from behind clouds. Not with a click of a mouse but with the stroke of a pen.
Dollayo on June 1, 2009 at 8:48 AM
As someone who relies so heavily on technology every time he speaks, this is a particularly scary thing for Obama.
Dee2008 on June 1, 2009 at 8:48 AM
cap ‘n trade might lead to rolling black-outs. did i read that here? so he’s just setting up to blame something other than his legislation.
people are dumb.
kelley in virginia on June 1, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Give him a break. He just watched Die Hard 4 and got confused.
amkun on June 1, 2009 at 8:52 AM
amkun
Ogabe’s been confused for years. I doubt Michelle would let him watch anything that might raise his testosterone level.
SKYFOX on June 1, 2009 at 9:07 AM
It’s another crisis!
Now let me circumvent the Constitution yet again to “solve” it.
Daggett on June 1, 2009 at 9:07 AM
YOu don’t want to waste a good crisis?
There is no aspect of American life and culture that Obama won’t seek to subvert, using the economic crisis as rationale for his thuggery.
Health care? Gotta nationalize it. Our economic security is at stake.
Global warming? Gotta remedy it with cap and trade legislation. Our economic security is at stake.
Gun control? Gotta stop terrorists from buying guns. Our economic security is at stake.
Auto industry? Gotta have the government take it over. Our economic security is at stake.
Education? We must fund our children’s futures with trillions of dollars filtered through the teachers unions. Our economic security is at stake.
Free speech? Gotta put some “common sense” controls in place. Our economic security is at stake.
Radical Islam? Gotta communicate and compromise with thse people. Our economic security is at stake.
And, this is a partial list.
%$#@ him.
Bruce in NH on June 1, 2009 at 9:07 AM
Threw entire cities into darkness??? I must have missed that FOX News Alert…
D2Boston on June 1, 2009 at 9:17 AM
Silly Dee, it is only us serfs who are going to be without technology. We cannot expect our betters to be lords of the manors without technology.
rbj on June 1, 2009 at 9:19 AM
Not long after the Northeast Blackout of 2003, there were subsequent blackouts in a few other countries and I don’t recall a real good explanation being given (at least publicly) for why these occurred, so it’s conceivable it was some sort of attack.
CP on June 1, 2009 at 9:24 AM
What a way to start the day…a Bruce Willis reference.
ladyingray on June 1, 2009 at 9:24 AM
You ought to be compiliing a database of these things…
drjohn on June 1, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Calm down girl.
blatantblue on June 1, 2009 at 9:27 AM
If Obama says that in other countries cyber attacks have plunged entire cities into darkness, then in other countries cyber attacks have plunged entire cities into darkness.
–MSM
ddrintn on June 1, 2009 at 9:35 AM
When it comes to security, I think we have more to fear from careless bureaucrats than we do the “smart grid”. Combine that with an Obamabot “standardizing” internet security, and you have something real to fear.
littleguy on June 1, 2009 at 9:42 AM
I’m with schick on this, Ed. I don’t think this particular propaganda has anything to do with his stupidity or his inexperience. This is just an outright fraud, perpetrated to give him an excuse for more socialism.
It’s not brilliant, or clever or Machiavellian. It’s just plain old boilerplate propaganda.
There will be great suffering in Gildor!
Jaibones on June 1, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Let me guess, Obama was watching Live Free of Die Hard and he got the idea for a Cyber Security Czar. Did he hire Bruce Willis for the position?
mizflame98 on June 1, 2009 at 9:51 AM
What, do you think that someone will actually report Obama lies?
Unelected un-confirmed czars, not good for Amercia.
tarpon on June 1, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Wait till they hack into TOTUS!
The Prompter Czar!
profitsbeard on June 1, 2009 at 10:00 AM
That would change if the MSM ever actually reported any of the idiotic things he does. Therefore it’s unlikely to change.
Daggett on June 1, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Funny.
Remember Sambo’s restaurants in the 1980s? They were shut down over their name because it was perceived as being racially insensitive. The fouder’s name was probably Sam and this was his nickname, but no matter. Perception is everything.
You see, minorities can throw around words like that, but not “majorities.”
UltimateBob on June 1, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Barack Obama has vivid memories “seared into his mind” of the catastrophic serial power outages caused by the failure of millions of microprocessors during the Y2K date change fiasco.
Oh, wait a minute, that never happened.
But we need a cyber czar to prevent World CyberWar Y2KIX from paralyzing our cities “again”.
Steve Z on June 1, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Is our president basing his domestic security policy on the TV show 24?
kringeesmom on June 1, 2009 at 10:06 AM
I dunno…might be difficult now….
ladyingray on June 1, 2009 at 10:08 AM
BO and his cap ‘n trade policies are more of a threat to the power grid then any pimple-faced, 12 year old hack.
jbh45 on June 1, 2009 at 10:40 AM
I think it was that island off the coast of Australia that sank. The cyber attack caused the global warming efforts to stop, so gaia just up and sank the island in frustration.
TimothyJ on June 1, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Probably the most relevant bullet point.
infidel4life on June 1, 2009 at 11:10 AM
The man is less capable of telling the truth than Clinton.
I just hope he doesn’t pull a Scotty and say “I’m lying.” It will throw the whole country into a tailspin with smoke coming out of our collective ears.
jukin on June 1, 2009 at 11:11 AM
A portion of our town was blacked out by a hacker just a couple of years ago. His name was Jimmy and he used landscaping as his cover job. While digging a trench for what he said was a new and improved irrigation system, he backed into a distribution box, hacking the wires apart. Horror of horrors two homes were plunged into darkness and there was panic in the streets.
Seriously, as one commenter has already said – “Who will pay for this new “security”. We will of course. First comes the danger, then the protection, then the “Value Added Tax”. Obama is beginning what can only be a move to accomplish what our Congress has been trying for a decade – taxing the internet. Not just for sales but simple access.
dkeppner on June 1, 2009 at 11:18 AM
He so reminds me of training managers. Announce a new “progam” daily and give the appearance of making things happen.
AnninCA on June 1, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Maybe Barry thinks cyber-terrorists are responsible for this.
Buy Danish on June 1, 2009 at 11:20 AM
I guess ever since Obama woke up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with a missing kidney he’s been a bit loose with the facts.
kirkill on June 1, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Well, there was this one time when a man spilled his cup of coffee all over the control thingie and all the power went out in this big city, but then the Energizer Bunny showed up banging his drum like crazy, and…
Wait, that was a commercial. …nevermind…
TeeDee on June 1, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Only if the word “Bamboozled” is also used.
Example:
The President has basically “Bamboozled” us with his boogeyman story:
DSchoen on June 1, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Ha!
Sent that one in yesterday. To the wrong email address of course. One of those days……
Jim708 on June 1, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Oh no!
Me think me know WTF Obama talking bout!
Perhaps not a “click of a mouse” but the gnawing, chewing of mice on wires?
Also know as “crispy critters”
DSchoen on June 1, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Isn’t this reminiscent of Die Hard 4? I think that’s the small town in another country the man is referring to. Of course! We have our first truly pop culture President! That explains it.
Okay so here’s my game plan: Buy a generator that can be run by human power via a bike. (Mother Earth News/Omega Man); stock the yard with 4 cords of wood for the fireplaces; build a solar oven on the south side of my house; stock bulk seeds and build more above ground gardens; transform my ornamental landscape into edible/medicinal/herbal; build a fish pond(stocked with trout)and power it with solar/wind; buy bulk medical supplies from your local Costco or whatever and get a comprehensive first aid book so you will know how to use it; store candles, camping lanterns with a supply of white gas; learn to use a bow and arrow; learn to can produce; learn to tan hides; get manual alternatives to the electric appliances in the house; remember what is was like roughing it in the outdoors before the camper/motor home; read the book “When Technology Fails” just in case I’ve missed something; relearn the guitar and piano, harmonica,and learn the autoharp, banjo (Please no references to Deliverance!); stock up on reading materials; remember the hype about Y2K!!! Also remember that statement from Rahmbo about not letting a crisis go to waste: whether they’ve created it or not! Sheesh!
Driefromseattle on June 1, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Oh yeah I forgot the water collecting cisterns at every down spout from the roof!! Need water.
Driefromseattle on June 1, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Uhm no, the expanation was clear, correct and concise.
Power plants and the grid are all interconnected. If one area is drawing more current than that area Power plants can produce, current from other Power plants are brought in to the grid.
This is normal GRID operation.
Normal operation of Power plant Generators is that they produce power to a specific “current level”. They cannot go over that level without causing catastrophic damage to the Generator (they go BOOM!).
To prevent that, circuit protection devices, like circuit breakers are used to automatically disconnect that Generator from that Power plants grid.
As stated above other Power plants supplement this lose of one generator because all of the grids are interconnected.
Now, if say, ya have a very hot day, all power plants are producing power at or near their max.
As Power plant Generators reach their max, and the demand for power continues to rise the self-protection devices will take that Generator off line.
As stated above under normal operation current from other Power plants are brought in to cover the loss of that now “off line Generator’.
This can only happen so many times till ALL the Generators being overloaded and, (as advertised), shut them selves down.
This is what happened in the 03 blackout.
The simple fact is “Every thing worked as advertised”.
At power plants where operators were on the ball, could see the cascading failures happing disconnected them selves from the interconnected grid (isolated their system) and shed load off their grid. Those areas did not have complete blackouts.
This is the same in most of the world. Other countries that had blackouts had them for the same reasons.
Including the much-vaunted “European Smart Grid” that went black a few months later.
Smart Grids cannot defeat the laws of physics or Ohms law.
And never forget Murphy is always the first to clock in and the last to clock out, and never takes a day off.
At lest that would be my first guess.
DSchoen on June 1, 2009 at 5:05 PM
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