Mary Katharine Ham points out that Barack Obama has decided to declare war on …. himself?

In his weekly address today, President Obama calls for fiscal discipline and says his administration will eliminate waste and increase efficiency.

“We cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay,” the president says, adding that we must “recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results. It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington.”

Um … okay. The Washington Post noted Deficit-Killer Obama’s hard work on this front in March, when the White House’s own extremely rosy economic forecasts led them to propose spending that would produce the following budget deficits over the next ten years:

Maybe Obama should start by acknowledging that he’s the main cause and problem of the deficits he now attacks.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] 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!