Barack Obama has some trouble keeping his complaints straight — even in the same day. On one hand, Obama complained that the Republicans didn’t enthusiastically join in spending trillions of dollars in bailouts and failed stimulus plans as soon as he became President:

“I had one side of the aisle just sit on the sidelines as the crisis unfolded.”

Later in the day, though, Obama told a DCCC audience that he wanted to keep the Republicans on the sideline (from Politico’s Morning Score e-mail blast):

“After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back. (Laughter.) No! (Laughter and applause.) You can’t drive! (Applause.) We don’t want to have to go back into the ditch! We just got the car out! (Applause.) We just got the car out! (Laughter.)”

That’s Obama’s idea of bipartisanship: Shut up and watch me drive. You can’t complain that the Republicans sat on the sidelines when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid locked them out of negotiations, especially on Porkulus, which is what Obama complained about in the first clip, and then complain when Republicans want their ideas to get on the agenda. Not unless you want to look like the Crybaby-in-Chief, that it.

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!