Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on June 18, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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If a speaker wants to make a point about organizational failure these days, there certainly is no paucity of real-life examples. AIG, Merrill Lynch, the state of California … any of these will do. So when Barack Obama reached for an example in his speech to the AMA of failure through lack of foresight and overwhelming costs, what did he choose? The company he just bought — and sent into bankruptcy:
A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble in recent decades were the huge costs they racked up providing health care for their workers — costs that made them less profitable and less competitive with automakers around the world. If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM — paying more, getting less, and going broke. When it comes to the cost of our health care, then, the status quo is unsustainable.
Er, yes. Which is why no one could understand why Barack Obama kept sinking tens of billions of taxpayer dollars into GM while its pension and health insurance obligations never got addressed. It’s also why we all wondered why Obama perverted the bankruptcy process in order to favor the unions, who insisted on those big, expensive pension/benefits packages that made GM uncompetitive in the domestic and global market.
Obama spent $60 billion to sustain the status quo, GM went bankrupt anyway, and now Obama lectures us on how expensive and futile that exercise is. Well, I hope he learned that much … with our money.
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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Let me be clear:
Its one big single amateurism
blatantblue on June 18, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Barry’s a statist liberal. They’re incapable of learning from past mistakes.
AZCoyote on June 18, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Obama spent $60 billion to sustain the status quo, GM went bankrupt anyway, and now Obama lectures us on how expensive and futile that exercise is. Well, I hope he learned that much … with our money.
this is what he means by hopey/changey.
SHARPTOOTH on June 18, 2009 at 8:10 AM
See, if Hillary had been successful in her healthcare push, Govt. could have picked up the tab for healthcare, and GM would still be profitable.
/sarc
cs89 on June 18, 2009 at 8:11 AM
FIFY…
doriangrey on June 18, 2009 at 8:12 AM
why is he always saying “let me be clear…” when he never is.
worst. president. ever. (comic book guy voice)
moonbatkiller on June 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
i have a 07 silverado, my 4th since 1987 and now my last……sad.
SHARPTOOTH on June 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Let me be clear:
Its Orrogance…
ladyingray on June 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
bluelightbrigade on June 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
So he agrees that paying for the health-care of all Americans will make the US less competitive & profitable…?
bluelightbrigade on June 18, 2009 at 8:13 AM
bluelightbrigade on June 18, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Does anyone else get annoyed with the way he often pronounces “s” with a whistle when it’s at the end of a word?
Or how he often tries to say “you know” but it comes out “yo”?
itsnotaboutme on June 18, 2009 at 8:15 AM
This guy has the common sense of a golf ball.
jimmy2shoes on June 18, 2009 at 8:15 AM
When the folks allow a leader and a congress that can’t balance a budget to control every facet of their lives and run an economy larger than any in the world. The 53% who voted for this boyking have set us up for a crisis bigger than the big depression. What they need to understand is that Bush is gone and this mess now belongs to him and them.
The day is a coming that folks will reject this BS and send the new Pee Wee Herman home singing I know you are but what am I!
bluegrass on June 18, 2009 at 8:15 AM
How do you spell clueless?
O-b-a-m-a
I think you need to apologize to the golf ball.
Beaglemom on June 18, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Golf balls have a purpose.
Golf balls are as close as he will get to having any.
Yoop on June 18, 2009 at 8:19 AM
True. We have elected the first metrosexual president. Congratulations.
jimmy2shoes on June 18, 2009 at 8:21 AM
The last “american made” car I owned was a 1981 ford escort whose engine blew up at 50,000 miles. Its been 28 years “american made” free for me. I’ve driven a few “american made” as rentals from time to time but never impressed with the death rattlers.
I have to say that I do admire Ford ’s stance and new dominance in the “american made” auto market, but not enough to go out and buy one…
jbh45 on June 18, 2009 at 8:22 AM
His example reflects an uneducated and simplistic view of economics. GM was unable to compete with whom? Successful automakers! These successful companies have plants all over the US and they provide health insurance. They’ve done just fine… GM’s problem isn’t health insurance, it’s UNIONS. That’s the difference between the successful manufacturers and Detroit.
And speaking of Detroit… why do you think the successful automakers have built plants in AL, TN, SC… and not in MI? Unions and crippling taxes, that’s why.
Hey, BHO, you want to see a successful model? Look south. Good business analysis compares the successful with the failure… it doesn’t guess at the cause of the failure based purely on populist preconceptions.
mankai on June 18, 2009 at 8:25 AM
This “health-care costs stymies competitiveness” meme is as mendacious as “global warming” – just another politically self-serving artificially fabricated crisis.
Maquis on June 18, 2009 at 8:25 AM
Hey government media!!!!! How do you like obama knowing he can say anything b/cause you ,sorry excuses for journalists,will never put his feet to the fire.
The joke is on you.
ohiobabe on June 18, 2009 at 8:27 AM
This is typical of Obama. His complete disregard for logic says either a) Obama is stupid, or b) he thinks we are stupid. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle: he’s stupid enough to think we are stupid enough to swallow his gibberish.
Something else that has entertained me a little is the assertion that public health care is going to be paid for by private savings. That must imply that those “savings” are going to be transferred to the public accounts somehow. Now, assume for a moment that the marginal corporate tax rate is 33%. $1 in private-sector savings thus nets the government $0.33 in tax revenue. So private sector savings would have to be greater than three times the public sector cost. So how is it that the government-run program is going to be so efficient, when the government has never done anything else efficiently? The answer is that it is not. Instead, the actual value delivered to people will shrink, and even then, the government will resort to its default action: increase taxes, and siphon off “health tax” money for other wasteful boondoggles.
So when they tell you that public health care will be paid for by cost reductions in the private sector, don’t forget what they don’t mention: that those savings will have to be transferred to the government through taxation, and the taxes, if we can rely on history as a guide, rise much higher, faster, than the politicians would want to let you believe.
The other point about his nonsense public health care plan is that the CBO estimates that it will leave uninsured roughly half the numbers who are currently uninsured. So, those people, naturally, will join the public program. Thus, instead of 40-odd million people being covered by the public plan, we’re actually talking about 60-odd million. But then this will cause even more people to be uncovered via the same mechanism, and the cycle will repeat. Be assured that the implications of this are a collapse of private insurance.
mr.blacksheep on June 18, 2009 at 8:27 AM
jbh45 on June 18, 2009 at 8:22 AM
we’ll maybe you can be the first to buy from oboobi goverment motors, good luck with that.
SHARPTOOTH on June 18, 2009 at 8:28 AM
My Bologna has a first name, it’s B-a-r-a-c-k…
WordsMatter on June 18, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Whoa… Thank you.. When I am not making junk to clutter up earths L1 orbit I piddle around making carbon fiber shafts for Penley Research and Development. Golf ball’s are useful… Obama… Not so much…
doriangrey on June 18, 2009 at 8:30 AM
this Obama guy needs to man up already… he’s like the little kid with an excuse for EVERYTHING and who finally annoys everyone to the point that no one believes a word he says.
take some responsibility Mr. POtuS. Man up. You wanted the job, now do it and stop making excuses and blaming everything on straw men and your predecesor.
gatorboy on June 18, 2009 at 8:31 AM
One day
When medicine is socialized
I’m going to get into a terrible car wreck
And I’m going to wake up in a bed.
And when I open my eyes, I’m going to see Barack Obama standing over me in a doctor’s coat, telling me that I will not get care because I am white, young, and male. I’ll look down and see a peg leg instead of a nice prosthetic.
I will scream — then wake up, thanking myself that that never happened. But then I’ll realize that he’s my president still, even though he shouldn’t be. And I’ll cry anyway.
blatantblue on June 18, 2009 at 8:31 AM
His intellectual condition is not just bankrupt. It is also dishonest. Our Community Organizer in Chief will say whatever it takes to “remake” the country. He plays us all for fools.
petefrt on June 18, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Add all those failing state governments and big companies together and you only get a fraction of the federal government’s indebtedness and failure. The US Federal Government is shaping up to be the biggest failure of all time.
forest on June 18, 2009 at 8:33 AM
I thought Obama’s referring to ‘his’ television networks was pretty scummy. Revealing, but scummy.
So there’s ONE network that he “has” that’s not doing his bidding. The other ones he “HAS” (he’s “got”) are already bowed down, so no concerns there.
Lourdes on June 18, 2009 at 8:33 AM
OBAMA IS A LIAR.
There, I said it.
therightscoop on June 18, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Best way for the GOP to frame the healthcare debate… compare it to a job interview:
“So, I see here that you already have some experience in the healtcare field… Medicare – How’d that work out for you?”
- uh… uh…
“Ok, so, lets talk about your administrative skills – I see that on your application here with the DMV? How does that work out?”
- uh… uh…
“Well, this position will require prudent budgetary skills, it says here on the application that you have revenue collection experience as the IRS – what safeguards and experience do you have to oversee the budget spending? You’ve listed ‘congressional oversight’ – can you expand on that please?”
- uh… uh…
Rinse and repeat.
h/t caller to the herminator
gatorboy on June 18, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Sometimes a Harvard grad is no more than an educated fool.
bluegrass on June 18, 2009 at 8:37 AM
ROTFLMAO…. President Bush wished he had ONE television network entirely devoted to attacking Him.
doriangrey on June 18, 2009 at 8:37 AM
They call that Hope-pocrisy.
NeoKong on June 18, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Time out. Drudge is reporting that the NORKS may be planning to fire another missile, this time towards Hawaii. What do you suppose Prezbo’s reaction to that will be?
jimmy2shoes on June 18, 2009 at 8:40 AM
He’ll ignore it for three days then suggest that Hawaiians engage in a little reflection as to why they would selfishly put their islands in the way of the missile.
mr.blacksheep on June 18, 2009 at 8:43 AM
WALPIN defines our defense against the corrupt antipathy of Obama & Marx, Inc.
Proof of corruption permeating the Obama Administration through and through, corruption that permeates everything Obama has done and will do. From regulations to ruin all business and industry will higher taxes and fees, to bail-out ruin of our nation’s Banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler, ruining our economy with insurmountable debt to China, federal coercive socialist educational mandates, to the blood poisoning of our medical system suffocating under entitlements. That’s just what is sinking in on the domestic front.
The slashing of support and funding for our military at the very moment of huge international upheavals aimed directly against the USA by all unfriendly nations, Korea and Iran blatantly announcing plans to assault the United States of America, and the Belgium based independent International Crisis Group think tank advice is that unless North Korea chooses to cooperate, because they deem military intervention out of the question, we can only talk.
It isn’t South Korea that the Norks will attack. It’s Japan and the USA. They won’t NEED nuclear bombs, though they have them. They’ll launch preemptive bio-warfare.
That a US General during the Obama administration is announcing North Korea’s ability to hit our West Coast in 3 years means more than what’s being published. AS IF it would take 3-5 years to be sold what they want on conditions set by meddling Iranian merchants of terror for instance.
maverick muse on June 18, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Michelle’s meat puppet is a pathological narcissist who cannot withstand criticism. We need to use this thin skin weakness to openly and blatantly CRITICIZE him, brutally, at every turn.
He will crumble; he has a mental illness and we can capitalize on it by pinpointing the issues these sickos can’t handle. He may even have a friggin meltdown during one of his anti-American idol sessions. I can see him now, collapsing on camera, ashen, mumbling uhhhh, errrrr, ummmm, could uhhhhh, someone, uhhhh, help me, totusssssssssssssssssss?
Ris4victory on June 18, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Obama:
…by complying with ever-changing, arbitrary CAFE standards imposed by a Congress that has little sense about either business or manufacturing and that buys into junk science.
…by submitting to extortionary union contracts that benefitted union bosses and hamstrung efficient, cost-effective production.
Obamao surely has mastered the art of “distraction” from the real issues affecting our economy, hasn’t he?
onlineanalyst on June 18, 2009 at 8:44 AM
He’s learned enough to take the approach nation-wide, so we can all feel the pain GM felt just before Obama blew its brains out with a well-aimed pistol shot.
unclesmrgol on June 18, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Another example of how everything is about him. The narcissism shines through everything he says and does.
Dee2008 on June 18, 2009 at 8:47 AM
LOL! Great way to start my day.
Wait—how can I laugh when he’s destroying our economy?
Al in St. Lou on June 18, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Exactly.
Dee2008 on June 18, 2009 at 8:48 AM
“All this was inspired by the principle–which is quite true in itself–that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.”
Tell a whopper of a lie, and people will not be sure whether to disbelieve it. Tell it often enough, and people will begin to accept it. After all of this time, the technique still works.
Tonus on June 18, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Ed used the word “paucity”. He gets 10 points.
Nethicus on June 18, 2009 at 8:51 AM
My husband, daughter and I drive an 08 GMC Sierra 4×4(I frickin LOVE my truck!), a 1998 Silverado, and two 03 Pontiac Gran Prix GTs.(Besides the Olds Cutlasses I drove in the 80’s and 90’s, the nicest and most reliable cars evah) *LOOK*,to be clear, apparently we haven’t done enough to pay the pensions of 80-year-old Michiganders, so we will have to voluntarily retire our “fleet” for the unsafe tin can garbage that will now be produced in Detroit. Oh, wait. Barack damn Obama has already made that decision for us. Whew! Thank God (or is it now Thank Obama?)our health care won’t go the way of GM…..oh, wait…..
Cornhusker on June 18, 2009 at 8:54 AM
This is getting too easy. He will:
1) Immediately ask for an hour of prime time TV.
2) He will announce a new Czar to monitor Hawaiian luaus for tax purposes.
3) At 2:59 AM he will unplug the red phone in the bedroom of the White House and retire for the night.
4) In the morning he will state that the Hawaiians need to get some “skin in the game”.
5) He will go out to the golf course to look for his balls.
Yoop on June 18, 2009 at 8:57 AM
One strawman to rule them all.
the_nile on June 18, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Sometimes, all we can do is laugh :D
It’s a stress reliever.
blatantblue on June 18, 2009 at 8:59 AM
You have to wonder with the “smart guys” in this administration, how they couldn’t predict that $60 billion wouldn’t solve the problem. Almost makes you think they deliberately threw the money into the sinkhole. Do we even know where the money actually went (toward what costs).
Now we are being told it was the healthcare costs that did in the auto industry. If I thought any of these guys capable of “planning”, I’d have to wonder if this wasn’t a set-up.
texabama on June 18, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Obama:
onlineanalyst on June 18, 2009 at 9:01 AM
And government take over of health care will bankrupt the United States.
rbj on June 18, 2009 at 9:03 AM
Yoop, that cracked me up! Good one.
onlineanalyst on June 18, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Good news! Obama’s support among Independents drops from 60% to 46%. Way to go, Barry!
John the Libertarian on June 18, 2009 at 9:09 AM
What I don’t understand, is that he spoke those words to room full of some of the brightest and bestest minds in the country and NOBODY PICKED HIM UP ON THAT??????? Are these people afraid of him? I believe they are.
bloggless on June 18, 2009 at 9:18 AM
He’s already quite proficient at the ummm, errr, uhhh part of that breakdown
gatorboy on June 18, 2009 at 9:19 AM
Oh my God, I thought I was the only one who was being driven insane by this!
crazy_legs on June 18, 2009 at 9:20 AM
And government take over of health care will bankrupt the health of the people of United States.
I fixed that for you.
bloggless on June 18, 2009 at 9:21 AM
um, er, um, this guy is a disaster! Every time I see him I want to gouge my eyes out with a dull spoon.
scalleywag on June 18, 2009 at 9:22 AM
I’m through trying to figure that one out. It’s mind boggling, isn’t it?
scalleywag on June 18, 2009 at 9:25 AM
The MSM will only be able to keep the “high popularity poll numbers” meme up for a while longer, then things will really tank for THE ONE.
He will lash out at everyone and everything. It will be OUR fault that Government Motors and Universal Health Care are failing because WE just-didn’t-care-enough. It will be OUR fault because we were too focused on future costs. It will be OUR fault because We are all so selfish.
Yoop on June 18, 2009 at 9:27 AM
Don’t do that. Under Obamacare you’ll have to wait 2 years for new eyes and they’ll give you eyes like the pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean –the one that kept falling out and rolling around.
Beaglemom on June 18, 2009 at 9:29 AM
“Let me make this perfectly clear: The reason there was such failure and overwhelming costs is because these companies did just what I wanted them to, through their corrupt and greedy unions.”
“And now I want to do the same to…err…for you.”
“Err…never mind.”
Lockstein13 on June 18, 2009 at 9:31 AM
hahaha. Since I just turned 55 they may not see the need to give me any eyes at all!
scalleywag on June 18, 2009 at 9:42 AM
I just love it when politicians think I’m stupid.
Akzed on June 18, 2009 at 9:48 AM
He should have also stated that he had another network station promoting gay relationships between the leader of the once upon a time free nation and with a journalist named Chris Matthews. as I have said before transparency you can believe in…………………..bull sh*t
bluegrass on June 18, 2009 at 10:28 AM
So, Mr. Big Shot Barack, how did Ford and Toyota and Honda stay solvent? By skimping on health insurance? Or was it something else…like UNIONS?
Steve Z on June 18, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Obama: Good–let the Norks blow up my real birth certificate, and no one will EVER find it!
Then I’ll have to lecture Angela Merkel about the Germans attacking Pearl Harbor.
Steve Z on June 18, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Of course they’re afraid of him! Look what happens when you ask him a tough question… Your life is laid bare to the whole world, gov’t workers go through your personal files, your tax forms, etc. Any past mistake or humiliation is thrown out there as “proof” that you are obviously either insane or a right wing nutjob planted by other right wing nutjobs to make Dear Leader look bad. Your family and children become fair game. And obviously, you deserve it all because you “put yourself out there”.
I’d think twice too, about confronting the Chicago (now DC) machine. I haven’t had a scandalous life, but who wants to be dragged thru the mud just to ask a question that is ultimately going to be ignored anyway?
Boudica on June 18, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Even an anvil would feel threatened by his presence.
LarryG on June 18, 2009 at 10:55 AM
“Let me be perfectly clear”… is code for us to look one way while he does something in the other direction. Is he still paying his speech writer cuz that dude is into recycling. O has said nothing new in months, just the subject matter changes.
Kissmygrits on June 18, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Obama has said and done only one thing that is believable. Trying to figure out what he means is futile anymore. Nothing he says makes sense except this: “We don’t have any more money.” That says it all.
BetseyRoss on June 18, 2009 at 11:54 AM
He’s “historic” in the fact that he is historically the most ignorant, least informed, most naive president in the history of our country.On top of all that he’s got a gigantic chip on his shoulder and a nasty “payback” agenda all lined up for us. We are doomed.
UnEasyRider on June 18, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Let’s give Obamacare a trial. Let the UAW and the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters try it out first.
Jeff from WI on June 18, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Does he really believe the things coming out of his mouth?
LSUMama on June 18, 2009 at 2:02 PM
The entire USA under Obama is going to go the way of Zimbabwe, not GM.
daesleeper on June 18, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Not getting any traction with the claim that healthcare costs are driving ordinary people into bankruptcy? Time to take the GM/Chrysler claim out for a test drive.
JM Hanes on June 18, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Where’s all the feedback from the witless wonders who voted for this maniac?? It used to be, “Give him a chance, he’s only been prez for 1 month, 2 months, 3 months.” I don’t see that zinging comeback much anymore. Nor the ever-popular chant, “the adults are in charge now!”
Fans???
betsyz on June 18, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Thank you. This is the story of the ‘election’ and the ‘administration’. Since September 15th, it’s been one self-serving artificially fabricated crisis after another.
Blacksmith8 on June 18, 2009 at 6:56 PM
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