Obamateurism of the Day

Again, for those who wonder how the President who ran up the worst budget deficits in American history can cast himself as a deficit hawk with a straight face, the answer appears to be that Barack Obama has no knowledge of math. Greg Hengler grabbed this video from yesterday’s Ohio stop on the “Shut up, he explained” sales pitch tour for ObamaCare. How hard was the sell? At the end, Obama offers all of your money back on premiums … and 29 times more:

How many people are getting insurance through their jobs right now? Raise your hands. All right, well, a lot of those folks, your employer, it’s estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3000%, which means they could give you a raise!

Heck, they could give people a lot more than a raise if insurance premiums dropped three thousand percent. They could give people brand-new cars, because it would mean that the insurance companies would give employers thirty times what the employers used to pay in premiums, or roughly around a quarter-million dollars per employee.

Memo to the White House: one can only reduce cost on an item 100%. That makes it free.

If Obama meant three thousand dollars, well, that’s about as truthful as saving 3000%. Just ask Dick Durbin.

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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