Obamateurism of the Day

Let’s put this one in the “57 states” category of Barack Obama stumbles, which we now know all great speakers make. At the beginning of his remarks on the bipartisan meeting on jobs, Obama either attempted to ad-lib an introduction, or TOTUS decided to trip him up. Obama claims that he took office “last year”:

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Sorry I’m a little late. I have just concluded an informative and constructive discussion with Republican and Democratic leaders about job creation and our economic future. We spoke about the challenges facing our families, our businesses, and our country as a whole, and what we can do to overcome them. Today’s meeting built on some of the ideas that I offered in the economic speech that I gave yesterday and on some of the ideas discussed at the Job Forum that we held at the White House last week.

Looking at the situation we face today, what’s clear is that our economy is in a very different place than it was when I took office last year.

Feels like forever to us, too, Mr. President — but actually, you took office this year. In fact, it was less than 11 months ago, on January 20, 2009. If this is what your Teleprompter actually had on the screen, it’s time to fire a speechwriter … but don’t let Chris Matthews know you had one. He’d need a tinglectomy. (via Andrew Malcolm, linked above)

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!