Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on June 9, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
I wrote last week that Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo last week provided a cornucopia of Obamateurisms, and this is yet another example. In his haste to butter up the Egyptians and the wider Muslim audience, Obama gave the Islamic world credit for an invention for which they don’t even get runner-up status:
As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed.
I’ll skip the vacuous but ambiguous credit Obama gives Al-Azhar for the Renaissance and Enlightment; the Irish will have some complaints about the former, and the rest of Europe over the latter. Specifically, though, Muslims didn’t invent the magnetic compass. Credit for that usually goes to the Chinese, who experimented with needles and lodestones as far back as the second century BC. They built a complete compass by the early 12th century, and eventually Marco Polo would bring one back on his travels.
In fact, the Muslims didn’t even come in second. Europe developed the magnetic compass at the end of the 12th century, while the Arabic compass would come decades later.
Doesn’t the White House do research and fact-checking on Obama’s speeches? No, of course not. If they don’t do it for their economic policies, why bother to do it for foreign panderfests?
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!
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Oh Ed, doncha’know…if the One speaks it, then it is so!
jbh45 on June 9, 2009 at 8:08 AM
Well, they invented algebra and our world is run on math, so, like, basically, Muslims created everything!
amkun on June 9, 2009 at 8:09 AM
There’s no such thing as the second century BC. Time starts in AD (or whatever you want to call it) 570.
Tzetzes on June 9, 2009 at 8:09 AM
To the guy who invented zero:
Thanks for nothing!
trubble on June 9, 2009 at 8:12 AM
I think he gets so many things wrong because Obama “experimented with needles” too much as a teenager and young adult.
DrAllecon on June 9, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Our President is just one big ol’ Obamateurism of the Day…
ladyingray on June 9, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Without a moral compass, as Obama apparently is, being able to make any comments about compasses in general seems to be a bit much.
As for the rest of Obama’s historical references…guess only if one has grown up with the myopia of racism and everything White being Wrong, this is to be expected.
Or it could just be simple pandering to an audience which has no access to the facts nor any demonstrated desire to determine the facts.
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 8:15 AM
The Muslims didnt invent anything, what they claim to have invented they actually stole from the library in Alexandra.
doriangrey on June 9, 2009 at 8:16 AM
Not only did the Muslim world not pave the way for the Enlightenment but it hasn’t gone through its own Enlightenment yet. Until it does, we’re in for a lot of trouble.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on June 9, 2009 at 8:17 AM
I thought the big fire was a bit before the Moslem era…First Century BC.
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 8:19 AM
They let him get away with things they would never let Bush get away with.
ctmom on June 9, 2009 at 8:19 AM
Since Obama is staffing the White House with Mr. Smythe’s 11th grade AP History class, including the speech writing staff, these mistakes are to be expected.
myrenovations on June 9, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Stoning women, gays, and anyone else that has a differing viewpoint? Yeah, that enlightenment….Muslim style!
csdeven on June 9, 2009 at 8:21 AM
How can Muslims steal from Alexandrian library if it was burned centuries before Muslims even emerged?
promachus on June 9, 2009 at 8:21 AM
This is a case of “What have you done for me lately?”
Europeans and the rest of the West took the above tools (whomever really should have credit) and moved their cultures forward while the Muslim culture is pretty much stuck back Biblical times. Sure, Osama Bin Ladin communicates via videotapes and other technology that came from the West but his message and that of Islam is as backward as anything that was around over a thousand years ago.
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 8:22 AM
The Left always likes to talk about The Larger Truth, such that a narrative is always true, even if the underlying facts are, well, not true.
rbj on June 9, 2009 at 8:22 AM
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Obama for allowing my husband to “Keep” his job today. I don’t know how or why he chose my husbands job but, “Thank you President Obama for “keeping” my husbands job”!!!
1 job kept so far this month (but I have to know if he gets to keep his job next month, does it count again or do you only get 1 keep per person per job?)
Bicyea on June 9, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Did Mary Mapes produce this for Obama?
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Is this what they mean by an historical presidency- that he’s literally rewriting all history?
Monica on June 9, 2009 at 8:26 AM
C’mon, Ed…it’s simply another case of the libs rewriting history…nothing more.
ladyingray on June 9, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Do you know the way to Meccaville
In the 14th century, the Syrian astronomer and timekeeper Ibn al-Shatir (1304-1375) invented the compass dial, a timekeeping device incorporating both a universal sundial and a magnetic compass. He invented it for the purpose of finding the direction to Mecca and the times of Salah prayers at the Umayyad Mosque.[34
Whatever…
Shivas Irons on June 9, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Hey! Great minds and all. Welcome, Monica.
ladyingray on June 9, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Sigh. Try researching the subject, the library in Alexandria was destroyed in parts, which is to say that while it was damaged it recovered and underwent 3 very distinct destruction’s the last and final being its sacking by Amr ibn al ‘Aas 642.
doriangrey on June 9, 2009 at 8:30 AM
What do you expect? All he knows is Islam and his Muslim history. Now that he’s in office, he can show that he has Muslim heritage remember?
MobileVideoEngineer on June 9, 2009 at 8:32 AM
This is the type of history they teach in Rev. Wright’s church.
pearson on June 9, 2009 at 8:35 AM
I was thinking along the same lines as Monica. Let’s just make it up as we go. After all, it’s worked really well so far!
And as long as we’re pointing out inaccuracies;
That’s hardly fair to… you know… the people who really did those things.
Darn wikipedia, giving credit to those infidels.
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Obama never lets the facts get in the way of pandering to his audience. Actually, he never lets the facts get in the way of anything, period.
kingsjester on June 9, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Carried the light of learning. Is that what he calls it?
Wow, so if Vienna fell, just imagine how awesome the Renaissance would have been!
Clueless doesn’t begin to describe it. Did anyone tell Obama that the Ottomans pretty much extinguished that light. If it wasn’t for the Crusades, how much would have been lost forever? Imagine that.
No one tell Obama who the greatest patron of the Renaissance was, either.
Most of what “paved the way…” according to The One was the discovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, even if it didn’t come from the library itself.
\
No love for the Hindus? Is Hindu Rage Boy out on the streets today?
reaganaut on June 9, 2009 at 8:39 AM
To me, when I think of contributions to America by islam, I think of that hole in Lower Manhattan where two skyscrapers once stood.
That is by far the most significant contribution by that so-called “religion” in American History.
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 8:42 AM
No fact checking because how would it sound for O to get up and say the only thing the Muslims have created is a jihad on America?
katablog.com on June 9, 2009 at 8:49 AM
did Islam invent the internet. oh, wait, i’m confused.
redneckjoe: where are you in Virginia?
kelley in virginia on June 9, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Yup, and the fact that the United States didnt make it the very last contribution by that so-called “religion” just shows how much testicular fortitude the United States has lost in the last 65 years.
doriangrey on June 9, 2009 at 8:50 AM
The more I read that, the worse it seems.
Were it not for the Europeans fighting off Muslim invaders in several key battles, the world would look much different.
Student of history…bah.
reaganaut on June 9, 2009 at 8:51 AM
o/t: the dem primary is in Virginia today to select their nominee for November gubernatorial election. Terry McAuliffe is running in today’s primary. he’s paid $1 million for his GOTV ground game today, but he is behind in the polls, so who knows. interesting.
kelley in virginia on June 9, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Oh how dare you! We know that those people weren’t real Muslims. And every good elitist liberal knows exactly how to tell a real Muslims. And you’re just not being fair!
/sarc
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Heck! They didn’t even invent Achmed the Dead Terrorist!
Shy Guy on June 9, 2009 at 8:53 AM
Nobama’s Obamateurisms are further proof that elections have consequences. His handlers need to take better control of him. If it wasn’t for too many conservatives and independents ‘laying off’ voting and the ignorant and welfare spongers being encouraged and paid to vote by Acorn, this obamination would never have been elected. To paraphrase Nobama, ‘I love you, you love me, I will get you free stuff!’ Not that McCain was that much of a better choice but Nobama is proving to make McCain look like a hard right winger.
hershey616 on June 9, 2009 at 8:56 AM
So was that converted Muslim in Arkansas who gunned down two soldiers last week a “real Muslim?”
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Never mind the discordant syntax.
What diseases were understood? What cures were developed?
Saltysam on June 9, 2009 at 8:59 AM
I was going to make a snarky remark about that being the only reason they’d invent one, and sure enough I was right. Thanks for the info.
Disturb the Universe on June 9, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Having struggled helping my son with his Algebra homework last night, creating algebra is something to HATE the Muslims for
The_Lid on June 9, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Obama was schooled in the Leonard Jeffries version of history, in which Pharoah and the Buddha were ‘black men,’ and ‘Africans’ created everything from the first written language to the incandescent light bulb.
This is why he has nominated to the Supreme Court a token who believes — like Jeffries — that ‘wise Latinas’ (whoever they are) are genetically superior ‘sun people’ whose ‘loving’ natures make them better judges than us un-empathic ‘ice people’ (think John Roberts). Pure Leonard Jeffries. But find someone, anyone in the media willing to point this out.
ILB on June 9, 2009 at 9:04 AM
So the Islamic world is responsible for “our mastery of pens and printing”?
Nearly everyone would argue that Guttenburgh’s (a German) printing press was the biggest invention in regards to the printed word (and some would argue, the biggest invention ever). How the Islamic world gets credit for mastering the art of printing is yet another Obama blunder, if you ask me.
ynot4tony2 on June 9, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Sir! How dare you suggest such a thing. More likely than not he was some kind of radical conservative plotting against our HOPENCHANGE and tried to make it look like it had something to do with religion. You know how those right wingers are all mixed up about religion anyway.
Does it ever cross a liberal’s mind that the things they stand for (feminism, abortion, etc.) are offenses punishable by death by the people they will stop at nothing to defend?
just sayin.
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 9:06 AM
“I keeel you!!”
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 9:07 AM
And the irony is that the homicidal terrorists, if you use the koran, their so-called “holy” book, as a guide, ARE the “real muslims”. The ones that DONT want to kill you for being an “infidel” (ie: a non member of their child molesting, homicidal cult) are the “fake” muslims.
The mythical “moderate” muslim doesn’t exist and is purely a creation of fantasy. Muslims fall into three categories:
1. Orthodox. These are the terrorists.
2. Collaborators. This is the majority, while they don’t commit acts of violence themselves, they support those who do silently and probably by contributing to the so-called ‘charities’ that so often end up sending money to group #1.
Members of this group can be promoted to group #1 or be subject to “sudden jihad syndrome” however.
3. Agnostics. These are the ones that won’t kill you, who don’t care about terrorism, mostly because they are muslim in name only, and probably know as much about the koran as a liberal knows about the Constitution.
The only solution is a reform of islam itself. And that is difficult if not impossible, by design. Mohammed was NOT a kindly prophet like those of the Old Testament, and he certainly wasn’t like Christ in any way.
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 9:11 AM
I would be shocked, but it would make my day, if the STATE-RUN media would report all this man’s inconsistencies:)
ohiobabe on June 9, 2009 at 9:12 AM
When Obama becomes dictator of the world, he will appoint a History Czar to keep the history books updated with whatever Obama says is history.
He’s going to be a very busy Czar.
Daggett on June 9, 2009 at 9:13 AM
They don’t need to, because the media & the barely-literate masses won’t either.
jgapinoy on June 9, 2009 at 9:15 AM
Setting aside the “Ex-Cathedra” view Dear Leader’s cult followers have of his every word, maybe he could avoid some of this criticism by appointing a Fact Check Czar. They are not really all that concerned about historical accuracy though, they just want the ring of truth to plant the seed of belief.
InTheBellyoftheBeast on June 9, 2009 at 9:15 AM
When that happens, dictator of the world, that is, will all references to Euro or Slav based figures and concepts be abolished?
Will the History Czar then become known as First Griot?
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 9:16 AM
I wonder when the public spectacles of Obama “Youths” (and boy, given his “muslim roots” that scares me) wearing their brownshirts (and turbans) goose stepping around a fire with burning non “czar” approved history books start?
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 9:17 AM
If that speech was “surprisingly good”, I’d hate to know what “expected” would be like!
Sign of the Dollar on June 9, 2009 at 9:18 AM
He invented it [magnetic compass rig in 13th century] for the purpose of finding the direction to Mecca and the times of Salah prayers at the Umayyad Mosque
Like a “Way Back Machine” to 7th century… or if Team Barry were really workin’ it they could say that Islam invented the first GPS.
I wonder how many jobs it “saved or created”…
Shivas Irons on June 9, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Obama probably knows Islamic history, but also knows that he can get away with this preposterous load of BS because:
1. The media won’t call him on it;
2. Most Americans are blithely ignorant of history;
3. Most Arabs are willfully ignorant, even delusionally so, on this topic, often with the encouragement of their governments.
jwolf on June 9, 2009 at 9:20 AM
A few years ago, an article was passed around that claimed “1001 inventions” by muslims. (There was also some kind of “exhibition”: http://www.1001inventions.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=309 )
Many/most of the claims were quickly discredited, but as usual, obama (and many others) didn’t read the followup.
SavoirFaire on June 9, 2009 at 9:24 AM
As a student of history…when will Obama make a public comment about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin and his being BFF with Adolf? You know, that painter from Braunau who built the autobahns.
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 9:24 AM
This does show the tremendous success Muslims have had in redefining the debate over the actions of Islamic terrorists. They are not, after all, barbarians – could a barbarian invent things? And yet, every time you see evidence of the use of invention by those who seek our destruction, it is not an invention that could have come about under their rule. The ironies abound, but the fact that the poseur in the White House buys in is probably the greatest irony of them all.
itobo on June 9, 2009 at 9:25 AM
When is the state-run media going to check what this man says and then print his inconsistencies??:)
ohiobabe on June 9, 2009 at 9:28 AM
You are, sadly, correct.
I am an amateur historian and it shocks me how ignorant most people are about this particular subject.
My favorite subject to study in history is the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire (they never referred to themselves as Byzantine, but as Roman). The Byzantines took the full brunt of the Mohammedian invasions of the 7th century head on, just as Persia did, but unlike them they managed to survive another 800 years.
Islam has always been about conquest and subjugation, and it’s been doing it for 1400 years. It’s ironic that islam ceased to be a military threat to the West by the 19th Century (because it had fallen so far behind technologically) but that it’s getting a new shot at the “world wide caliphate” due to globalization.
The only difference between islam and any other “world conquest” movement that has existed (ie: nazism, fascism, communism) is that it’s cloaked in religion with “Mein Kaumph” as it’s “bible”.
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Having struggled helping my son with his Algebra homework last night, creating algebra is something to HATE the Muslims for
The_Lid
I understand your frustration, but with respect, if you think those problems were hard, you should see how they used to solve those problems BEFORE algebra! It wasn’t pretty. :)
jwolf on June 9, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Liberals have taken over the American public education system and have been hard at work changing history for several decades. Now these new ‘facts’ spouted by Telebama will be added to textbooks just as true history is omitted. Didn’t the Muslims also create the wheel, discover electricity, invent the cotton gin and manufacture the first steam engine and automobile? Aren’t their agricultural methods widely praised and copied around the world? Haven’t they done more for world prosperity than any other group? Don’t we all use the wide variety of pharmaceuticals developed and proven in Muslim countries?
maryo on June 9, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Well, in my youth I was known to have self-medicated with a bit of hasish from time to time. :-)
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Muslims? Aren’t they the ones still working on the “heated vests at a click of the button”? How’s that invention working out for them?
rich801 on June 9, 2009 at 9:38 AM
As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.
It seems to me that Prez Obama may be channeling another famous historian who was also, according to records, a Harvard alum.
Peabody’s Improbable History and Sherman seems to represent America(n’s) in snippet located.
Shivas Irons on June 9, 2009 at 9:39 AM
You got that right. I was at Mount Vernon a couple of weekends ago. The number of ignorant comments I heard was astounding but the one that really stood out was the woman that was simply amazed that a Southern Colonial plantation would be, in her words, just like a little town. Which goes to show just how little she knows about this period in history.
As a sidenote, Mount Vernon is well worth the trip. It is really an interesting place with all that has been done in recent years. I hadn’t been in about 20 years at which time there was pretty much the house and gardens and crypt but not a whole lot else that was “interpreted” for the public. My only complaint is that they have opted to use the term “enslaved” (as in enslaved gardeners or enslaved house servants) to describe a common economic and social institution of the time. It’s not the worst way to describe slavery, I suppose, but the way it is done comes off with more than a little dose of liberal white guilt.
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 9:39 AM
By the time they are done, the history of the automobile will mention the model “Mecca” was the first popular one, produced by the “Al-Ford” motor company by unionized workers using the assembly line technique pioneered by Mohammed Al-Ford.
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Obama, it would appear, is becoming the greatest “inventor” of all time — or shall I blame his speechwriter/s for literally rewriting history or actually, inventing history?
mz.josephine on June 9, 2009 at 9:41 AM
“As a student of history”???? I have yet to see this demonstrated, nay, even hinted at, by The One. Could it be his reincarnation of FDR’s New Deal which proves his knowledge of history? His Carter-esque foreign policy? His bloated rhetoric of LBJ?
This gentleman has uttered many an egregious thing. But for this historian, this assertion takes the proverbial cake.
cyclown on June 9, 2009 at 9:44 AM
arabic numerals were actually brought into Persia by the Hindus, and that was long before Mohammed was born.
To give credit to the Muslims for algebra and the arabic number system is like giving America credit for building the pyramids.
Of course that doesn’t stop the Muslims from trying.
bonnie_ on June 9, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Zero don’t need no stinkin’ facts to clutter up his magnificent oratory. It’s all about the delivery, the flow of words and what will mesmerize the ignorant and unquestioning masses he panders to on any given day. He tells them exactly what they want to hear.
Just wait — next December he’ll have people believing Santa Claus was a Muslim.
Loki28 on June 9, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Everyone keeps forgetting that this is an affirmative action A++ speech in both content and delivery.
jukin on June 9, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Guttenberg was named “Man of the Millennium” by Time or some such, back in 2000 – for having the greatest influence in the past 1,000 years.
Rosmerta on June 9, 2009 at 9:53 AM
I couldn’t agree more. Based on my reading of the Quran and on the interpretation of almost every Muslim I know socially, the only kind of Muslims which we should not be worried about are those who treat it as an ethnicity rather than a religion. It’s apparently coherent now to say things like “I was born a Muslim but am not practicing.”
Even though the tradition of being “born” into a religion began with the Jewish 12 tribes of Israel and their living decendents. Since nobody claims to be related to Mohammed I don’t see how it makes sense.
In any case, it has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with someone saying “I subscribe to the philosophy laid out in this book.” Which is what it means to believe in a religion with a cannonized text. And then holding people responsable for what is actually in that book. Sound legit?
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 9:57 AM
The early islamic empire had a technological and scientific edge on the West up until around 1000 AD mostly because it was built on the ruins of the Persian and Roman territories that it conquered which hadn’t suffered overrun by barbarians which caused the Western Empire to collapse in the 5th Century. The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire was it’s equal or even superior in some ways, such as the invention of “Greek Fire”, an early flamethrower, which was used to repel an attempt to take Constantinople early in the 8th Century.
They simply lacked the manpower to prevent the Arab horde from overrunning everything except Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the Balkans, and had been exhausted militarily by a massive war with the Persians (which they had won) literally just a few years before the mohammedians overran the same territory (Egypt, North Africa, Syria, and Judea).
After Charlemagne brought some stability back to the West, learning and such started to revive that by AD 1000, the West had achieved parity with islam, and would start to surpass it.
The Reconquest of Spain started around 1000. The Crusades followed after the Byzantines were delt a fatal blow at the hands of the Turks at Manzikert in 1071 AD. Not many know that the Crusade was called originally to prevent the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, and to recover the Holy Land, which was taken from it by conquest by the muslims centuries before…
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Is he saying the Muslim development of algebra allowed us-”our”- development of all these other things? If so, he needs to be clearer on what he’s saying.
Or is he saying that he’s one of the Muslims-”our”-developing all these tools?
Of course it’s the first, no sitting president would be that pandering to say he’s of a faith he is not a member of. Simply a grandiose statement that is confusing and full of internal contradiction.
MarkT on June 9, 2009 at 10:02 AM
I thought Islam pretty much made it clear that anybody born a Muslim would be practicing or declared an infidel. Apparently this is one area where the filthy liar in the White House has gotten a pass from all his terrorist friends.
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Should be terrorist-loving friends.
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Fake but accurate??????
jukin on June 9, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Hell, liberals wouldn’t care if Marco Polo invented the internet.
If he shook hands with Al Gore one day, Algore would still take the credit.
desertdweller on June 9, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Not surprising. Its the same mindset that teaches our children that Christopher Columbus was a racist, imperialist, war mongering white man, bent on enslaving people of color.
Star20 on June 9, 2009 at 10:06 AM
The Muslims didnt invent anything, what they claim to have invented they actually stole from the library in Alexandra.
doriangrey on June 9, 2009 at 8:16 AM
That was before they burned that tower to the ground.
darclon on June 9, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Obama’s a “student of history” and I’m a nuclear physicist.
Buy Danish on June 9, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Well, it is true that the supremely tolerant religion which doesn’t allow question or dissent does make it pretty clear that you are in trouble if you were born Muslim but don’t practice. However, those who would enforce that ‘law’ (Muslims who live by the Quran) aren’t likely to be put in a situation where they would have to enforce it in the first place. Mostly it’s the sort of apathy begets apathy sort of thing I think.
In any event, praise be to the Almighty for the love and tolerance of a religion which drives fathers to kill their daughters to preserve honor.
Is it just me or do they need to rethink what that word means?
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Actually, anyone born with a father who is muslim is supposed to be muslim or they are worse than an infidel: They are an apostate with a death sentence. And this compulsion to be muslim is passed down through male inheritance (also by women if his mother or grandmother were muslim). What Obama was essentially admitting to in Cairo was that in the eyes of the orthodox that he is a muslim apostate.
Of course, islam is allowed deception, the fact that Obama definitely has shown no display of any other religion they might forgive him as having to hide his faith for the future payoff of an islamicized America.
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 10:16 AM
This is the false premise upon which Obama builds everything that follows. I have yet to see evidence that what Obama knows about history amounts to anything more than a superficial ant-hill of beans.
The political Left (tyranny) has always been hostile to objective history — a fact that Egyptians should be sensitive to if they are historically-aware, given that a pharaoh’s first order of business was often to erase all evidence of his predecessor(s) existence, or rebrand it as his own — viewing it as another tool to be coerced into (propaganda) service of the tyrant. The 20th century is replete with examples of this, and Obama, a Marxist, is cut from the same mold.
Harpazo on June 9, 2009 at 10:17 AM
I think the point about Hitler and the autobahn really resonates, except Hitler was actually responsible for the autobahn. Obama’s trying to draw everyone’s attention to all these wonderful things for which Islam actually deserves no credit while at the same time spreading himself out as wide as possible to cover up the atrocities of Islam that are still going on.
TouchingTophet on June 9, 2009 at 10:19 AM
The earliest means of writing that approached pen and paper as we know them today were developed by the Greeks.
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa100197.htm
Since Islam wasn’t created til 622 A.D. they weren’t Islamic yet. So it’s a play on words.
I also found this… ” One of the most important principles of Islam is that all things belong to God, and that wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust. The word zakat means both ‘purification’ and ‘growth’. Our possessions are purified by setting aside a proportion for those in need, and, like the pruning of plants, this cutting back balances and encourages new growth. ”
I find that very interesting, since Obama wants to grab up wealth, and power from this country….as if he’s been chosen to do so, and he is the only person, who can be responsible for it. pffffft.
capejasmine on June 9, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Fixed that for ya. YWIA.
UltimateBob on June 9, 2009 at 10:33 AM
But, getting back to the compass; it was my understanding from a movie (Hollywood Movie) that was on air last night, “The Last Templar”, that the compass was invented by a woman.
GareyNash on June 9, 2009 at 10:40 AM
As far as I can tell, Obama’s definition of “student of history” amounts to repeatedly reading those big picture books from his historic inauguration where a man of mix-raced background was presented as America’s first black President. So even the historic aspect of this administration is somewhat a lie.
highhopes on June 9, 2009 at 10:41 AM
That there’s funny. I don’t care who y’are.
Jarhead68 on June 9, 2009 at 10:43 AM
When the magnetic poles finally flip (and that is when, not if) who will be in more trouble, Obama or the muslims?
Obama seems to see little difference between the West and the East, as well as not being able to tell up from down. A compass is of little use to him. But for the muslims will east become west, or west become east, or should they just spin in place at the call to prayer?
Yoop on June 9, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Anthrax?
James on June 9, 2009 at 11:07 AM
You all missed something about this. Obama did not get his HIS history wrong, he did something much worse. He gave credit to a lie that has been told for years now. Islam has been making these claims for years and what he did was give that lie truth to the Muslim hears. That is far worse than just getting the facts wrong.
AzHamOp on June 9, 2009 at 11:08 AM
He speaks the truth of the teleprompter. I’m waiting for some hacker to hijack that thing during his next prime time infomercial and feed him some zingers.
wonk-a-donk on June 9, 2009 at 11:15 AM
I wonder if he’s like Will Ferrel’s character in Anchorman, and will read ANYTHING put on the teleprompter?
wildcat84 on June 9, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Islam gets credit for connecting genocide to religion along with taking terrorism to a new gruesome level in history. Everything else they stole from those they either murdered or terrorized.
Thanks to all those that brought an apologist for the most deadly and destructive cult in human history to the White House.
Hening on June 9, 2009 at 11:30 AM
“This is President Obama signing off. And f*@! you America.”
Oh wait, he doesn’t need a teleprompter to tell him to say that. :X
demotheses on June 9, 2009 at 11:33 AM
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