Andrew Malcolm notes a rather interesting admission in a recent fundraising letter from President Obama:

“I didn’t run for president because I wanted to do what would make me popular.”

Er … okay.  Did he run for President to make himself unpopular?  Because, as Andrew notes, he’s succeeded beyond his wildest dreams if that was the case.  What exactly is an election but a form of popularity contest?  Certainly popularity depends on ideas and policies, but it’s still an issue of popular support.

But this is self-contradicting for another reason.  Obama ran as a populist, co-opting John Edwards’ message and most of his supporters in the Democratic primaries of 2008.  Both before and after the election, Obama has routinely demonized bankers, Wall Street, and the wealthy.  Why would anyone do that except as a cheap access to populist as well as popular support?

The irony is that his populism has failed to stimulate the economy, an end to which all confiscatory populism is doomed anyway. Obama made himself into an unpopular populist, and his only response is a wan echo of Pee Wee Herman’s “I meant to do that.”

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!