Obamateurism of the Day

Well, what do we expect from the man who hailed his own nomination to the Democratic presidential ticket as “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”? Barack Obama told Australia’s ABC1 that he sees “commonalities” between himself and Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd, including apparently their totally awesome humility (via JWF):

United States president Barack Obama says he and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd share several personality traits – one of which is humility.

The US president made the comments to the 7.30 Report’s Kerry O’Brien during an interview which will be aired on ABC1 tonight.

O’Brien says during his 20-minute interview with Mr Obama, the US president shed some light on his relationship with Australia’s Prime Minister.

“It was interesting. Diplomats and politicians say nice things about each other when they’re having international chats,” O’Brien said.

But O’Brien says Mr Obama spoke candidly about their relationship – which has in the past been described as a “meeting of minds”.

“He was quite expansive and quite genuine on what he saw as the commonality and connections between [he and Mr Rudd]. One of which was humility,” O’Brien said.

Yes, because the first quality that comes to mind when thinking about President I Won, the man who marveled that Tea Partiers weren’t tossing him hosannas, is award-winning humility.  Note to the White House: It’s fine to praise someone else’s humility.  When you praise your own, you’ve negated your own argument.

Anyone this humble deserves his own theme song.  Here’s an appropriate tune from Mac Davis:

Update (4/22): Media Matters has its knickers in a twist over this, but Australia’s ABC1 did the reporting on it, which I quoted above.  The transcript of the interview shows the reporter asking Obama whether there was a “meeting of the minds” between Rudd and himself, to which Obama answers:

KERRY O’BRIEN: BETWEEN YOU AND KEVIN RUDD. IS THERE A MEETING OF MINDS?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I really do think there is, you know Kevin is somebody who I probably share as much of a world view as any world leader out there, I find him smart but humble, he works wonderfully well in multilateral settings, he’s always constructive, incisive. And, you know I think he is like me a pragmatic person, I think he comes to the job wanting to provide better opportunities not just for this generation but for the next but I think you know he’s somebody who isn’t an academic, or just thinking about abstract ideas, I think he’s constantly thinking in very practical terms about how to get something done.

So in an answer about how much alike he and Rudd are, Obama agreed with the premise and offered the following qualities in common: smart, humble, constructive, incisive, pragmatic.  Looks like ABC1 had it right.  Maybe Media Matters should learn to read for comprehension.

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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