Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on December 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Precipice: (n) 1.a very steep or overhanging place; 2. a hazardous situation; broadly : brink.
Gaffe: (n) The act of accidental truth-telling by a politician
With that in mind, here’s Barack Obama, providing a much more honest description of his ObamaCare program than he probably intended:
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. We just had a very productive session about the final stages of healthcare reform in the Senate. And from the discussions we had it’s clear that we are on the precipice of an achievement that’s eluded congresses and presidents for generations — an achievement that will touch the lives of nearly every American.
So what did he actually mean to say? I think Obama meant that “we are on the crumbling rockface of American credit,” or perhaps “we are on the collapsing ledge of individual liberty.” Hey, either one works.
By the way, don’t miss Mary Katharine Ham’s hilarious take on this, too.
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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Great catch!
carbon_footprint on December 16, 2009 at 8:08 AM
This is exactly what happens when people think they are smart and try to use big words to prove it. They generally have no clue what the heck they are saying.
Johnnyreb on December 16, 2009 at 8:08 AM
Fall into that achievement. That a boy.
Disturb the Universe on December 16, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Cusp, you Harvard Law Review President. Cusp.
rogerb on December 16, 2009 at 8:11 AM
Perhaps this unintended preoccupation with cliff edges means the POTUS is now thinking like Wile E. Coyote. (“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Barack H. Obama: Super genius!”)
apostic on December 16, 2009 at 8:14 AM
He meant that the Democrats are just about to drive America off the cliff. I knew all this was coming when he won the election, yet I still find myself stunned, almost unbelieving, that America is poised to transform itself – and the world, for this all will have sweeping long-term consequences – in this damaging way.
ProfessorMiao on December 16, 2009 at 8:14 AM
So its not just math,word winging it too!!
canopfor on December 16, 2009 at 8:14 AM
He starts talking like this and it makes my skin crawl. I can only imagine what it does to Hillary.
sherry on December 16, 2009 at 8:14 AM
“Hey folks, we’re at the edge of the abyss. Let’s jump!”
Fletch54 on December 16, 2009 at 8:15 AM
Eluded? Does he mean like a criminal on the FBI’s most wanted list?
His pimple-faced speechwriters must only put down their pocket thesaurus when its time to grope a cut-out of Hillary Clinton.
singlemalt_18 on December 16, 2009 at 8:15 AM
Very poor choice of words . . . one could reasonably conclude that we are about to fall over the edge into a dark abyss from which there is no return. On the other hand, this could be very descriptive of our future.
rplat on December 16, 2009 at 8:16 AM
Never before has any CIC taken us to the very brink of a precipice. Its a crowning achievement. B+
I was hoping for a treacherous path through a mine field fraught with danger and uncertainty.
But no, we get a precipice instead.
Geochelone on December 16, 2009 at 8:16 AM
what he is really saying
‘I’m going down and I’m taking you all with me’
cmsinaz on December 16, 2009 at 8:16 AM
Wherever you are, Sigmund Freud, you must be smiling.
TimBuk3 on December 16, 2009 at 8:17 AM
i’m not feeling the humor this a.m.
kelley in virginia on December 16, 2009 at 8:18 AM
So,Obama is saying,that their at the
Point of No-Return!!
canopfor on December 16, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Yes all we need is a Freudian slip off the precipice and watch out below.
Geochelone on December 16, 2009 at 8:19 AM
Mr. President needs to start carrying around a Thesaurus. What a unprecedented vocabulary he has. I think I’m going to hurl looking into this precipice.
kingsjester on December 16, 2009 at 8:20 AM
The gap between Hopey/Changeys Liberal Titanic
and the Healthcare Iceberg,is closing fast!!
canopfor on December 16, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Yes but it impressed the he1l out of the slack-jawed fools who comprise Ogabe’s base.
“He said precipice!” *swoon*
Bishop on December 16, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Gaffetastic!!
Somebody had to say it.
JimK on December 16, 2009 at 8:25 AM
“It’s obviously all part of his Niebuhrian guarded pessimism…”
ddrintn on December 16, 2009 at 8:26 AM
I hope, pray, and chant that he is truly on the precipice; His soldiers are. They’re ready to march into the volcano for him.
After spending all this time and money for legislation that will be for the benefit of the few, it shall be the most costly in American history. And Obama will be so proud. They’re ignorance and incompetence knows no bounds. Ignoring the American People this way, is as criminal as any totalitarian regime in any third world nation.
Cybergeezer on December 16, 2009 at 8:27 AM
The elites in congress have their golden parachutes with life time salaries and top of the line healthcare. And “We, the people” are pushed off a cliff into the great abyss.
Barb Dwyer on December 16, 2009 at 8:29 AM
The power of positive thinking, or using the BS from ‘The Secret’ just saying it and believing it will make it come true.
What a phony…
krl on December 16, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Hey Mr. President Obama, what do you see when you look over the precipice?
You see the abyss.
thgrant on December 16, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Dear Mr. President,
When you step off your “precipice”, would you mind holding on to a few of your subordinates.
Obama also said:
Earth to Obama: The “hole in your budget” is killing us. This has to be the most expensive “filling of a donut hole” in U.S. history.
Rovin on December 16, 2009 at 8:32 AM
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
Well, we are in an Alice in Wonderland time, with an American president who hates America, a hubristic Left that thinks humanity can control the climate and a US militarty that is scorned for liberating millions of people from vicious thugs.
rbj on December 16, 2009 at 8:34 AM
There’s a reason, the best nickname for this guy I’ve ever heard is Toonces.
MNHawk on December 16, 2009 at 8:36 AM
OT: Bernanke beat out dear leader as TIME’s person of the year…
ouch
cmsinaz on December 16, 2009 at 8:37 AM
I think Johnny nailed it. Faux intellectual + lovestruck speechwriter = Verbal disaster area
jwolf on December 16, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Its all about the “O”.
jbh45 on December 16, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Thank YOU!
ladyingray on December 16, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Pookie likes hearing those big words from dear leader
cmsinaz on December 16, 2009 at 8:40 AM
An ad just slid across my screen!!! WTF?
ladyingray on December 16, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Who cares what the meaning is? Precipice just sounds cool and smart and the Proles will never figure it out! /s
Caper29 on December 16, 2009 at 8:41 AM
When I read this yesterday, I thought “precipice? unintentionally appropriate.”
I like MKH’s take too, though the image I thought of was Alice choosing to go off the cliff in The Last of the Mohicans.
cs89 on December 16, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Odamna is the smartest man in the world. He must have meant exactly what he said. So, in a lemming-like fashion, let’s all get ready to jump off the cliff.
Him first.
Crusader Rabbit on December 16, 2009 at 8:45 AM
B+
WordsMatter on December 16, 2009 at 8:45 AM
excellent movie
cmsinaz on December 16, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Reminds me of the self-educated jail house lawyer bit……
“The flatsulation of the current sits-u-mation leaves me quite confabulated to the masturbation of the problem”
Jerome Horwitz on December 16, 2009 at 8:46 AM
Actually, standing on the precipice is a situation a suicide might find himself in. This statement may have some truth to it for O and the Libs.
davo on December 16, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Every once in a while TOTUS brings forth truth, and POTUS reads it off the prompter, without having a clue.
Precipice? Indeed!
Warning! Warning, Will Robinson!!
coldwarrior on December 16, 2009 at 8:53 AM
Uh O. This just might have a bigger carbon fooprint than Gore himself who just oozes.
Geochelone on December 16, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Obama gave himself a B+ on his Presidency so far.
But yet Obama won`t release his university class schedules or grades.
Wonder what Obama received for grades in his years at the University and what were his SAT and LSAT scores to get into Harvard and the rest??????
albill on December 16, 2009 at 8:56 AM
Yep, I noticed the same thing from the Harvard Grad. I betcha the much-maligned Sarah wouldn’t make the same idiotic error. And methinks this is also further evidence that he didn’t write his own books.
Verge?
Buy Danish on December 16, 2009 at 8:57 AM
Barry should check his ‘profit and earning’ ratios more often.
petefrt on December 16, 2009 at 9:06 AM
***snort***
This would make a great late-night comic scenario.
Not holding my breath.
tru2tx on December 16, 2009 at 9:07 AM
To be a socialist after the last century, one has to be dumber than a box of rocks. But Obama-nation is a stupid Socialist.
Slowburn on December 16, 2009 at 9:09 AM
Just be thankful he didn’t say “Preciweewee.”
Daggett on December 16, 2009 at 9:19 AM
I think a more apt scene would be taken from the movie Quigley Down Under when the bad guys (senators) are driving the Aborigines off the cliff.
PrettyD_Vicious on December 16, 2009 at 9:21 AM
It’s not the word precipice that’s wrong here, it’s the word achievement. I think I’ve captured what the TOTUS was trying to say.
Mojave Mark on December 16, 2009 at 9:29 AM
If Bush had made this statement it would have gotten the full Letterman treatment. When will the Left admit that their Messiah is just as “dumb” as Dubya?
rockmom on December 16, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Look; up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
No! It’s Captain Articulate!
hillbillyjim on December 16, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Yep yep.
inviolet on December 16, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Barack Quayle Obooba.
Boy I’m sure the press will hound him to death on this. Yessireebob.
Akzed on December 16, 2009 at 9:49 AM
“Let me be clear. Prezipiss.”
Trusser13 on December 16, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Words matter…
lovingmyUSA on December 16, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Actually, he got that part of the statement right, but he flubbed the ending.
What he meant to say was: “We are are on the precipice, and we are about to take a giant leap forward!”
logis on December 16, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Pinnochio the Affirmative Action President!
dhunter on December 16, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Did anyone notice the last sentence of that quote,”-an achievement that will touch the lives of nearly every American.” He didn’t say it would improve their lives, just touch them. Most of us will be feeling a touch of indigestion! That’s before we feel the touch of the IRS agent grabbing our wallets, or the police hauling us off to jail for not paying Pelosi’s “fair” share. I’m sure a lot of Americans will be feeling the touch of the Reaper!
Salukidog on December 16, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Step right up here Dims, to the Precipice!
Relax, breath out, have some koolaid and take one last step into:
OBLIVION and BANISHMENT for GENERATIONS!
Bye! Bye! Haaaaaaaa!
dhunter on December 16, 2009 at 10:06 AM
SMART Power!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!111111111111eleventy
jukin on December 16, 2009 at 10:15 AM
The Precipice of Health Care Reform: Obama Lovers’ Leap.
Steve Z on December 16, 2009 at 10:16 AM
I would have used the clip from “The Frisco Kid” of the two of them going over the cliff.
sabbahillel on December 16, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Yes but,
“Precipice” sounds so cool, Dude.
Cool sounding words is what makes great orators,
ain’t it?
franksalterego on December 16, 2009 at 10:27 AM
This quote from Ike has become my favorite since Barry was elected:
An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. -Dwight D. Eisenhower
phreshone on December 16, 2009 at 10:41 AM
What I love about Barry is that he tries to sound so intelligent, yet he almost always pronounces “to” as “tuh”.
Daggett on December 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM
He’s just conversatin’, dog!
CurtZHP on December 16, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Wow! That AND bring the Iraq War to “an irresponsible end!”
Star20 on December 16, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Over the years, I have known people like him. And quickly dismissed them as wannabe-poseurs.
I am still stunned he is the POTUS.
keebs on December 16, 2009 at 10:58 AM
High IQ you know.
antisocial on December 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Liberals are so ‘nice’.
Schumer calls flight attendant at bit*h for doing he job. He’s always been a schmuck, but this is living proof what “I’m better than all of you” means.
Schadenfreude on December 16, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Obama had a Freudian slip.
They happen to messiahs too.
Schadenfreude on December 16, 2009 at 11:05 AM
On the brink of bankruptcy – there you have it. Start crying now.
Schadenfreude on December 16, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Jeez, I hope Pinnochio doesn’t have a Freudian Slip while out there on the precipice, he might fall and hurt somebody!
dhunter on December 16, 2009 at 11:35 AM
The precipice at the edge of the abyss can be found by locating ObaMao’s navel, of which he is so fond of gazing.
onlineanalyst on December 16, 2009 at 11:50 AM
ObaMao invites all Americans to look into the void.
onlineanalyst on December 16, 2009 at 11:52 AM
I agree, but I also think, there’s a possibility, that while what he said is the truth…this country is on a precipice….he meant to say it. He’s just smug enough to think the rest of the country wouldn’t have a clue what it really meant.
capejasmine on December 16, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Smartest man in the world.
In the universe.
drjohn on December 16, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Nice job!
Dodd on December 16, 2009 at 6:54 PM
Its all about the “O”.
jbh45 on December 16, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Have you noted that Overstock.com has stopped saying, “It’s all about the O…”?
Army Brat on December 17, 2009 at 12:37 AM