Barack Obama sees Democrats facing a massive rebuke at the ballot box in two weeks, and he has a theory about why. It’s not the utter failure of Obamanomics, or the fact that his party shoved an unpopular health-system overhaul through Congress despite the national outcry over it — and the lack of focus on jobs. No, it’s that we’re too frightened to comprehend his genius:

At a Saturday-evening fundraiser held in the home of a wealthy Massachusetts hospital executive, President Obama suggested Democrats are having difficulties in midterm campaigning because Americans simply aren’t thinking clearly. Seeking to explain his party’s troubles, the president focused not on controversial legislation like national health care and the stimulus but on evolutionary psychology. “Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument do not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,” Obama told the assembled Democrats, who paid $15,200 a person to attend. “And the country is scared.”

To “break through the fear and the frustration that people are feeling right now,” Obama told the crowd, will require high-end donors not just to “write checks” but also to “lift up people’s spirits and make sure that they’re not reacting just to fear.”

Actually, the real irrational fear came during the collapse of 2008, which occurred shortly before America voted to elect a man with no executive, military, or diplomatic experience as President.  But this is clumsy for another reason as well.  Has Obama offered a “the only thing to fear is fear itself” argument?  Not exactly.  He and his party have spent the last several weeks shrieking about George Bush, Karl Rove, John Boehner, cars in ditches, the Koch family, and finally all of the sneaky foreigners that might, maybe, theoretically could be, no-one-has-proven-they-haven’t, influenced elections.

The only people shoveling fear at the electorate is Democrats themselves, and the Hopey-Changey amateur in the White House has been the worst about 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!