Barack Obama offered an odd answer to a question, caught by Chris at HAP and Ace, following an equally odd analogy.  When the White House called Obama’s tough statement following the exposure of the Iranian uranium-enrichment facility a “victory,” a reporter wondered why Obama didn’t reach for that victory eight months earlier — because Obama has known of the Qom facility since the transition.  Suddenly, Obama says he’s not interested in victory:

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. You just mentioned sanctions that have bite. What kinds of sanctions — and I know you can’t get into details — but what kinds of sanctions at all would have bite with Iran? Do you really think any kind of sanction would have an effect on somebody like Ahmadinejad?

Secondly, some of your advisors today said that this announcement was a “victory.” Do you consider it a victory? And if so, why didn’t you announce it earlier since you’ve known since you were President-elect?

THE PRESIDENT: This isn’t a football game, so I’m not interested in victory; I’m interested in resolving the problem.

First, this points out the continuing problems with White House messaging.  It was Obama’s own advisers who referred to it as a victory, apparently without consulting Obama himself — or possibly with Obama waffling on how to square this “victory” with the eight months of silence that preceded it.  But even apart from that amateurish stumble, since when does an American President stand up and say he’s not interested in victory?  Resolving this so that Iran doesn’t wind up with nukes would definitely be a victory for the West … one in which this President has declared himself uninterested.  That certainly sends a great signal to our friends and enemies.

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.

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