No one will argue that America is perfect, but we can take justifiable pride in establishing one of the world’s oldest continuous democratic republics. Over the course of our history, we have had to resolve issues of access to it based on gender and race, both of which were resolved decades ago, but the system itself has worked well for over two hundred years. Most Americans understand that … most, anyway:

President Obama said Sunday that the United States is still “working on” democracy and a top aide said he has taken “historic steps” to improve democracy in the United States during his time in office.

The remarks came as Obama met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev — one of the U.S. president’s many meetings with world leaders ahead of this week’s nuclear summit.

Er, what historic steps? So far, they’ve dropped a case of voter intimidation that was so clear-cut that it was captured on videotaped and its perpetrators had already admitted it. Other than that, the only signature domestic issue that Barack Obama’s administration has achieved is the passage of a bill opposed by 58% of the electorate. If that’s his idea of improving democracy, then, yes … that’s historically obtuse.

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!