One definition of gaffe is “the accidental telling of an embarrassing truth by a politician.”  If so, then this quote from Barack Obama last week caught by Glenn Reynolds certainly qualifies (emphasis mine):

Obama said he would attempt to convince his party’s left wing to take a less ideological approach to economic challenges.

“We’ve got to make sure that our party understands that, like it or not, we have to have a financial system that is healthy and functioning, so we can’t be demonizing every bank out there,” Obama said. “We’ve got to be the party of business, small business and large business, because they produce jobs.”

Er, “like it or not”?  Who exactly doesn’t want the US to have a healthy, functioning financial system?  Apparently, it’s the same people demonizing banks in order to blame them for the financial crisis that was mainly caused by Congressional mandates on loose lending for homes.  In other words … Democrats. And in the context of this quote, it’s clear that Barack Obama understands that as well.

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!