Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:01 am on May 3, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
Let’s see if we can connect a few dots, with the help of our friend Daniel Halper of the Weekly Standard. Barack Obama’s new campaign ad attacking Mitt Romney for his Swiss bank account at first hails Obama for his efforts to encourage “clean energy.” The key moment comes at the 11-second mark of the ad:
Here’s the graphic:
Pay close attention to the series of dots in the southern half of California. As Daniel noticed, this graphic is taken from a Department of Energy map of its green-tech projects. Here’s the original, with a helpful pointer from Daniel:
See the difference? Solyndra got scrubbed:
I guess Barack Obama and his team just don’t want us connecting the dots on his green-tech debacle, huh?
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!
Breaking on Hot Air
Menendez – Looks like we don’t have the votes for that immigration bill after all
America in decline – Bars selling rubbing alcohol as “scotch”
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Don’t those dots look a lot like targets or bullet holes?
ProfShadow on May 3, 2012 at 8:04 AM
Wish we could just scrub, erase, or delete everything Obama has done to us.
itsnotaboutme on May 3, 2012 at 8:04 AM
lololol
i’m sure there will be more ‘hiding of the dots’ in short order
cmsinaz on May 3, 2012 at 8:06 AM
What about the fact that there are few dots in flyover country. But you know what is in flyover country? The Keystone XL Pipeline and we all know what Obama thinks about that. Or to be more specific, what the treehuggers who hail Obama for fraud operations like Solyndra think about oil pipelines.
Happy Nomad on May 3, 2012 at 8:06 AM
Abba-di abba-di…dots all folks.
CitizenEgg on May 3, 2012 at 8:08 AM
Why… they’re just like dippin dots! The
ice creamgreen energy of the future. They melt before your very eyes.VietVet_Dave on May 3, 2012 at 8:08 AM
Crunch the numbers from the original graph and (rounding to an even 60,000 jobs) you get $578,333.33 per job. Quite an investment, huh?
Bitter Clinger on May 3, 2012 at 8:09 AM
So… We gonna get that money back?
Fallon on May 3, 2012 at 8:09 AM
Somebody’s (D. Halper) got a lot of time on their hands. Not the strongest OOTD I’ve seen.
WordsMatter on May 3, 2012 at 8:10 AM
The question I have is that Solyndra was based in Fremont, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area, not in “the southern half of California”. There’s still a green dot on the map in the SF Bay Area, so what is that? And if the dot that went missing isn’t Solyndra, what is it? Or do these people not even know where Solyndra was?
Trafalgar on May 3, 2012 at 8:11 AM
Green dots are costly.
Bmore on May 3, 2012 at 8:11 AM
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I think that 34.7B in “loans” to
“create” 60,000 jobs comes out to around $578,000 per job.
Doesn’t seem like a sound investment strategy. Unless it’s Democrat donors receiving the majority of these “loans.” Then it makes sense…for Obama. The Chicago Way, I guess.
visions on May 3, 2012 at 8:12 AM
You’d almost think he was hiding the decline or something.
swinia sutki on May 3, 2012 at 8:12 AM
Private bank accounts are for chumps. The idea is to give your friends massive sums of money from everyone else’s bank accounts.
forest on May 3, 2012 at 8:17 AM
So is Switzerland our enemy, now? There is a reason our Dumb@$$ in Chief is making an issue of doing business with them, right? Is it because they’re not governed by the Muslim Brotherhood that SCoaMF has a burr up his @$$ about Switzerland? Kind of like he does about Britain and Canada?
MNHawk on May 3, 2012 at 8:23 AM
Was that supposed to make me laugh?
sammypants on May 3, 2012 at 8:25 AM
Removed the dot, eh?
Masterful attempt to prevent the American public from ever connecting the dots.
Brilliant.
Simply brilliant.
Obama.
A Putz.
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 8:31 AM
Compressing.
rogerb on May 3, 2012 at 8:32 AM
…nooooo…some of that money probably made it’s way into the ad you just saw!
KOOLAID2 on May 3, 2012 at 8:33 AM
Hmmm… I thought today’s OTD might be Zero’s shout out to himself in Afghanistan…
Tomorrow?
stvnscott on May 3, 2012 at 8:36 AM
I was expecting a bit on that US-Afghanistan “treaty” thing…apparently loopholes you can drive a Taliban tank right though…
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Yep, every dot represents a job created by PBHO. 30 or so dots, 30 or so jobs, and it only cost the taxpayer about $250 billion. The map seems right to me.
Bishop on May 3, 2012 at 8:41 AM
Loans: 34.7 BILLION
Jobs: 60,000
Am I reading this right???! Who cares about Solyndra?
This is crazy absurd and laughable
bridgetown on May 3, 2012 at 8:41 AM
This is the real Obamateurism in the story. Solyndra and all of its brethren are certainly not accidents, but rather Chicago style corruption. But here we have Obama seriously claiming that government provided jobs at more than half a million each are a worthwhile economic investment for the country. And then he has the gall to claim that Romney is out of touch?!
jwolf on May 3, 2012 at 8:41 AM
Here’s a nice take-down of the ad featured in today’s OOTD. It’s in the LA Times of all places and begins:
.
I mean, sure, the fact that a wealthy, financially experienced, successful presidential contender has a Swiss Bank Account, famed in all the Hollywood movies which use this nefarious ploy to hide plundered wealth and keep secret ill-gotten gains has everything in the world to do with Energy Policy, which is what the political hit-job starts out with. BTW, Bark Ø has a little more ‘splainin’ to do since George “Also Wealthy But a Liberal So Gets A Pass” Soros introduced BØ to Robert Wolf. Who’s he? This opens up the can of worms a little for Bark’s campaign:
How’s that Swiss Bank Money working out for ya, Barky?
ExpressoBold on May 3, 2012 at 8:42 AM
The bigger problem I see with this add is that it shows “green energy” projects mostly in states that reliably vote Democrat. Are the voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania supposed to be happy that their states got one project apiece? More likely they’ll be pissed off that their tax dollars are going to California.
Mahna Mahna on May 3, 2012 at 8:44 AM
Money laundering.
Simply on a far larger scale than we’ve witnessed before.
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 8:44 AM
There has got to be a way to get the UBS-Obama marriage put into a major ad sweep.
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 8:46 AM
is Switzerland one of America’s 57 states?
Gladtobehere on May 3, 2012 at 8:47 AM
This.
crazy_legs on May 3, 2012 at 8:49 AM
Also, if you look on the orginal map there are 21 projects on the East Coast from Florida up into New England. On Barky’s map there are only 19. What are the two missing projects?
Trafalgar on May 3, 2012 at 8:53 AM
We need to scrub the debacle from the White House….
crosshugger on May 3, 2012 at 8:53 AM
.
The Dhimmis sure opened the door for it, didn’t they? Talk about your Swiss Bank Accounts? WOWSER!!!!!
ExpressoBold on May 3, 2012 at 8:58 AM
On the original map there are 69 projects shown, including one in Hawaii. On Barky’s map there are only 64. What are the missing 5 projects and where did they go?
Trafalgar on May 3, 2012 at 9:02 AM
Mamma-san say that slicky boy, Hu Jintao, took ‘em.
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 9:07 AM
I can’t believe Nobama is touting his creation of clean energy or green jobs. There was billions thrown at green energy projects in the stimulus, and the Department of Energy reported creation of only a few thousand jobs.
TarheelBen on May 3, 2012 at 9:14 AM
It looks like a dot in northern Kentucky was scrubbed, too. Anyone know why that is?
Dexter_Alarius on May 3, 2012 at 9:16 AM
I think a lot of these green projects are actually just money laundering schemes. Look at Solyndra. They receive $500 million in taxpayer money, and then go broke. When Congress called in their executives and asked them where the money went, they all take the Fifth. I wouldn’t be surprised if the money was laundered through Solyndra, and wound up in Democrat campaign coffers around the country.
TarheelBen on May 3, 2012 at 9:20 AM
60,000 jobs in the ‘green’ sector?
What area are the rest of the 2.1 million jobs in?
Government Oversight?
Czars?
Vacation Planners?
Backdrop set-designers?
Photographers?
Mooch assistants?
askwhatif on May 3, 2012 at 9:22 AM
Canine culinary specialists
Trafalgar on May 3, 2012 at 9:23 AM
I calculate less than 1,000 jobs per dot.
One dot in Vermont, with a population of ~700,000.
Raising that unemployment rate by .1%
FORWARD!
.
.
…and while we’re talking ‘green’; If we never pumped another barrel of oil from the ground, how would we make polyester, plastics, motor oil, and most of all, tarps?
askwhatif on May 3, 2012 at 9:28 AM
Maybe all those dots mean nothing…
Maybe Obama’s map designer was having a Joan Miro moment, or something?
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 9:29 AM
Plastic isn’t a natural resource?
/Libs
Bitter Clinger on May 3, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Preezy don’ speek no Swiss-trian.
askwhatif on May 3, 2012 at 9:33 AM
Where do they get the 60,000 figure? Is the 34.7 billion from the stimulus bill? If so, the Department of Energy reported job creation figures that were a lot less than 60,000. More like 10,000. Of course Nobama has never been very good at ciphering and reporting these facts and figures.
TarheelBen on May 3, 2012 at 9:35 AM
ExpressoBold on May 3, 2012 at 8:42 AM
Oh there’s a great difference between having a Swiss bank account and accepting money from a Swiss bank account! It’s the same difference as Ann Romney’s $990 top versus Moochelle’s $2700 top. It’s known as liberal media bias.
katablog.com on May 3, 2012 at 9:35 AM
SoylentObama Green ispeopledogs!Gladtobehere on May 3, 2012 at 9:50 AM
I still think there was something fishy about that quickie trip to Afg. If prezzy wanted a photo op in front of some hummers he could have gone to the local armory. The meet with Hamid K could have been done by state dept. The 2$B was the big draw for me since I always follow the money with this bunch. Whose pocket is this money going to end up in since we know the people of Afg won’t get any benefit from it. I’m sure Barky has a Swiss bank account under one of his alias’.
Kissmygrits on May 3, 2012 at 9:50 AM
“See the difference? Solyndra got scrubbed”
Solyndra was in Fremont CA located near SF and is NOT in southern CA, so no it was not that company that got “scrubbed”. In fact it looks like the dot for Solyndra is still on the map with the single dot located near the SF bay area on the map.
JeffinSac on May 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM
There are about 70 dots on the map. So, about 70 jobs created?
That sounds about right.
iurockhead on May 3, 2012 at 10:08 AM
I thought you would point out Obamas lie.
Most jobs were created overseas in China for green energy. That is where the windmills and solar panels are actually made not in the US. The US only gets a few temporary jobs. China gets the real jobs and makes most of the money. They are just put in to place here.
Completely undoes Obamas charge.
Steveangell on May 3, 2012 at 10:17 AM
.
Lemmesee, lemmesee…. in one case I take money out without having put any money in and in the other case I put money in hoping that I will have money to withdraw at a later time, assuming it hasn’t been given to corrupt politicians in the interim. Correct?
.
The first lady’s favorite embellished cardigans from L’Wren Scott range from $2,095 to $3,320. Apparently she has more than one cardigan sweater priced, appropriately, at the level of a compact used car. What does that have to say about the size of her cardigans? Hmmmmmmm? Yeah, answer me that one!
ExpressoBold on May 3, 2012 at 10:23 AM
Hide the decline.
ITguy on May 3, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Nothing up my sleeve…..
Presto!
Tim_CA on May 3, 2012 at 11:12 AM
Maybe a little O/T, but when Obama complains that Romney shipped jobs to Mexico and China, didn’t Obama’s Energy Department subsidize solar-panel manufacturers in Mexico and car-makers in Finland, and oil-drillers in Brazil, when we can’t even drill in the Gulf?
Why isn’t Romney going after Oblowhard about that?
Steve Z on May 3, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Are they including the jobs created by having to clean up the toxic waste Solyndra left in Milpitas?
UnrepentantCurmudgeon on May 3, 2012 at 12:37 PM
As far as I’m concerned the only real virtue Gingrich displayed was his willingness to swing his elbows up close and personal. Romney needs some of that; genteel critiques will only go so far.
UnrepentantCurmudgeon on May 3, 2012 at 12:39 PM
I am waiting for, praying for, Romney’s Nashua moment…and then I want to see him wade through Obama like crap through a goose.
Romney does that…and it’ll be like a replay of Reagan v. Mondale in 1984 come November.
coldwarrior on May 3, 2012 at 1:01 PM
Forward!
With billions in tax payer dollars to failed green energy companies that kick back with campaign donations to democrats.
dthorny on May 3, 2012 at 1:29 PM
Latest Endangered Species du jour: Dots on Obama’s Jobs Created by Obama’s Clean Energy Initiatives chart.
Oh, the humanity.
parke on May 3, 2012 at 1:31 PM
Excellent points!
Gladtobehere on May 3, 2012 at 10:00 PM