When Barack Obama wanted to look hip, he said this at the White House Correspondents Dinner about three months ago:

[N]ot three months ago, at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner, he seemed to know all about the stars of “Jersey Shore,” when he joked that “the following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax… Snooki, J-WOWW, the Situation and House Minority Leader John Boehner.”

And when he wanted to act above it all, he told this to the women on The View last week:

“Do you know that Lindsay Lohan is in jail?” asked Joy Behar. “I actually knew that,” POTUS responded.

“Does Mel Gibson need anger management?” Obama hemmed and hawed. “Uhhh… Let me answer the Afghanistan question!… I haven’t seen a Mel Gibson movie in a while.”

“Should Snooki run as mayor of Wasilla?”

“I got to admit,” Obama said, “I don’t know who Snooki is.”

A Snooki deception is hardly the end of the republic, but it’s just par for the course for someone who has trouble keeping his stories straight. In fact, it sounds like a subplot on Jersey Shore itself.

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! Chris has started his annual fund drive, so be sure to visit the DBD site and keep DBD in action!