Obamateurism of the Day

Remember Friday’s OOTD, the one that won the OOTW yesterday in a landslide?

“I’d say that I haven’t followed exactly what’s happening with the Wisconsin budget,” and then promptly declares that Walker’s plan “seems like more of an assault on unions.”

Well, it turns out that Barack Obama was right. Oh, not about the bill being an “assault on unions,” but about the fact that he hadn’t bothered following the Wisconsin budget debate. The Wall Street Journal discovered that for themselves on Friday:

The protests have an orchestrated quality, and sure enough, the Politico website reported yesterday that the Democratic Party’s Organizing for America arm is helping to gin them up. The outfit is a remnant of President Obama’s 2008 election campaign, so it’s also no surprise that Mr. Obama said yesterday that while he knows nothing about the bill, he supports protesters occupying the Capitol building.

“These folks are teachers, and they’re firefighters and they’re social workers and they’re police officers,” he said, “and it’s important not to vilify them.” Mr. Obama is right that he knows nothing about the bill because it explicitly excludes police and firefighters. We’d have thought the President had enough to think about with his own $1.65 trillion deficit proposal going down with a thud in Congress, but it appears that the 2012 campaign is already underway.

Perhaps President Obama would do well to remember the axiom that instructs that it is better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.  And since this is a state matter and not within the jurisdiction of the federal government, it might be better for Obama to tend to his own business rather than Wisconsin’s.

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!