Barack Obama visited a Chrysler plant on Friday, trying to make the argument that he had saved the American economy in part through the automaker bailouts. Earlier in the week, his administration admitted that far from recouping every penny of the tens of billions Obama sunk into GM and Chrysler, as Obama promised last year, taxpayers would lose at least $14 billion. That morning, the Department of Labor’s unemployment report had economists talking about a worsening US economy. Clearly defensive, Obama blamed “head winds” and “bumps in the road” for falling economic indicators, and then tried offering a lighter moment by saying that the product made by company he was visiting would have trouble getting past obstacles, too:

There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery. We’re going to pass through some rough terrain that even a Wrangler would have a hard time with. You know that.

This was at a Jeep factory, which makes the Wranglers. Needless to say, the workers didn’t appreciate the President of the United States derogating their product even for an analogy, and reacted immediately, while Obama at first kept plowing through his speech. He finally stops and acknowledges the response with a weak, “A Wrangler can go over anything, huh?” Yes — unlike a certain President, who apparently can’t go over a speech before delivering it while considering the intended audience.

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!