Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on October 2, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Andrew Malcolm wonders whether the White House has flunked history yet again in Barack Obama’s statement hailing Mohandas K. Gandhi, often given the honorific “Mahatma”, which means “venerated” or “holy.” In this passage, Obama seems to imply that Gandhi personally passed on his lessons of nonviolence to Martin Luther King Jr when he visited India in 1959, which would have been a neat trick, since Gandhi was assassinated in 1948:
On behalf of the American people, I want to express appreciation for the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his birth. This is an important moment to reflect on his message of non-violence, which continues to inspire people and political movements across the globe. …
Americans owe an enormous measure of gratitude to the Mahatma. His teachings and ideals, shared with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1959 pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through our civil rights movement. The America of today has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent social action movement for Indian independence which he led.
At best, it’s clumsily written. I’m pretty sure that King had been quite aware of Gandhi’s teaching and ideals prior to visiting India in 1959, since he’d been applying them for several years before that. Even if one gives the White House the benefit of the doubt, though, it’s worth pointing out that they fail to use Gandhi’s full and correct name even once in this birthday announcement, appearing to fall into the common error of assuming his first name was “Mahatma”.
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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WHAT??
PappaMac on October 2, 2009 at 10:06 AM
This man needs some psychological counseling. I’m not joking.
PappaMac on October 2, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Next, Obama will tell us that Martin Luther King, after channeling Gandhi from beyond the grave in 1959, demonstrated his commitment to diversity by having a love child with Stanley Ann Dunham in Selma, Alabama.
/sarc
Or something like that. Who cares about history when you can make it up?
Steve Z on October 2, 2009 at 10:20 AM
You beat me to it. I was thinking of Akbar’s conception in Selma 3 years after his birth.
Blacksmith8 on October 2, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Next, Obama will tell us Michelle channeled Martin Luther King and he’s changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat.
Jeff from WI on October 2, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Obama’s promises are not the only things that come with expiration dates. Benefits of the doubt are now expired as well. The filthy liar’s speechwriters have had long enough to learn that they need to research this crap before spooling it up on the teleprompter for the speech monkey to read.
highhopes on October 2, 2009 at 10:46 AM
The ‘Won’ has been telling everyone all along that his depression is the worst since the Great Depression. Who knew he’s a fortune teller AND a teleprompter reader?
Blacksmith8 on October 2, 2009 at 10:55 AM
15.2%! You must be south of the Big Mac. Up here in the Upper Peninsula they aren’t even bothering to accurately measure it anymore.
Yoop on October 2, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Exactly right!
Image and perception is everything to these people.
In that case, the truth be damned, they don’t need it.
ExpressoBold on October 2, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Yeah, I’m a MI troll (someone south of the Big Mac bridge in MI, not a troll-troll just to clarify for others). 15.2% is the reported percentage. I doubt the accuracy though, I believe it actually sets much higher.
ZeeMI on October 2, 2009 at 11:25 AM
We’re at 20% in my small town here in NE WA. There were six jobs for employment in the paper this week!
Eagles Dominion on October 2, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Only a ten year gaffe on his history….A+ in affirmative action college.
jukin on October 2, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Eagles Dominion on October 2, 2009 at 11:30 AM
My thoughts are with you guys too.
Our employment columns in the paper have all but dried up. Our legal notices on foreclosures however, take up half the paper.
ZeeMI on October 2, 2009 at 11:48 AM
No question, Ghandi was a great human being and the most important political figure in India’s modern history.
However, we have our own story and deserves to be told as written. I highly doubt the President would suggest that Ghandi and India owe gratitude to America because our Bill of Rights was penned before Ghandi was born.
JCred on October 2, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Liar. Liar. Baby pants on fire.
GrannyDee on October 2, 2009 at 12:32 PM
No, I don’t think so. The next graf makes clear that the writer knew that Mahatma is a title:
But thanks to the Ed nonetheless. ;}
Paul_in_NJ on October 2, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Leader of the free world, indeed.
OkieDoc on October 2, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Holy shyte. This guy is a total idiot.
2010 can’t come soon enough so this fool’s a lame duck.
RedNewEnglander on October 2, 2009 at 3:10 PM
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