Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on June 24, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Some OOTDs are humorous. This is not one of them:
“Throughout my service, first as a senator and then as a presidential candidate and then as a President, I’ve always run into you guys. And for some reason it’s always in some rough spots.
First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there. I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.”
The problem is, Jared Monti was killed in action in Afghanistan, on June 21, 2006. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, September 17, 2009. President Obama handed the framed medal to his parents, Paul and Janet Monti. He and the First Lady comforted them in the Oval Office following the ceremony.
Obama did award a non-posthumous MoH to Salvatore Giunta last year. It doesn’t speak well of Obama that he couldn’t get the names right in what appear to be prepared remarks for the troops. I know White House speech research is pretty bad these days (and a never-ending source for this feature), but this is simply appalling. (via Sarjex, our editorial cartoonist in the Green Room.)
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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Comment pages: « Previous 1 2
…he just doesn’t care
Alden Pyle on June 24, 2011 at 2:16 PM
See what he did there? Trying to imply he’s been in the ‘rough spots’ with the 10th Mountain Division. What a despicable weasel.
‘for some reason it’s always in rough spots’ ~ yea, sherlock, you think you’d run into them on the golf course? Of course they’re in rough spots; for ‘some reason’ they are the 10th Mountain Div. What reason could there be for them to be in rough spots? What a condescending loser.
‘You guys’ You guys? What a boorish cad.
He has absolutely no idea what the Medal of Honor represents and, I’m sure, has no plans to learn either.
Only a full public apology to the Monti family, and the Division, could set this (almost) right but I think we’ll have to wait until he has finished his umpteenth golf game.
marge on June 24, 2011 at 2:22 PM
The CiC is at least a dummy, at worst a cretin.
Schadenfreude on June 24, 2011 at 2:52 PM
There is no miss-speak here, the TOTUS was read correctly.
According to the script feed into TOTUS, POTUS read TOTUS correctly (and isn’t that all that really matters?).
Must have been the “Magic Mushroom Brigade” cuz the 10th Mountain Division was never in Southern Iraq.
The 10th Mountain Division was deployed to Iraq for the first time in April 2008.
They operated in the Kirkuk area, 380 to 460 miles from Southern Iraq. (Operation Phantom Phoenix)
DSchoen on June 24, 2011 at 4:10 PM
Carney said the remarks were off the cuff. No TOTUS.
I wouldn’t at all be surprised if his staffers gave him wrong info on the notecards or whatever he had, though.
Missy on June 24, 2011 at 4:18 PM
No Dung!
7 “I”s in 3 sentences, guess we know what his speech was about!
Seriously, this moron thinks the fact that “HE” gave the order was a major factor in the outcome of the operation!
DSchoen on June 24, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Carney said the remarks were off the cuff. No TOTUS.
Carney lied.
Sad but true. However the “Medal Of Honor”, the Highest Honor this country can award someone, you would think the POTUS who bestowed that Honor on Staff Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta would remember Staff Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta NAME!
A little fact about military structure.
The POTUS out ranks everybody in the military, meaning everybody in the military MUST initiate a salute to the POTUS.
There is ONE and only ONE exception, where the POTUS MUST initiate the salute, wanna take a wild guess what that exception is? Yep, a “Medal Of Honor” recipient.
Missy, Go to the prepared remarks , that is what was feed into TOTUS.
And yes he read it correctly.
An “off the cuff” would not be in the “prepared remarks”, it would be in the “transcript”.
DSchoen on June 24, 2011 at 4:51 PM
This was utterly disgraceful. As a former member of the 10th Mountain Division I’m especially appalled by this douchenozzle.
I’ve never met SSG Salvatore A. Giunta nor did I award him our nation’s highest military honor but I know the man’s name, including his middle initial.
Obowmao should have been so embarrassed by this mistake that it would have caused him to grow a conscious and call a press conference to apologize to SFC Jared C. Monti’s family, his friends and fellow soldiers.
rmel80 on June 24, 2011 at 7:40 PM
Sadly I’m not even the least bit surprised. Disgusted sure but not surprised.
Par for the course.
Yakko77 on June 24, 2011 at 10:12 PM
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