Barack Obama wants you to take him seriously as a statesman, not an ideologue or a party man.  If you want mindless partisanship, well, Obama warns you to keep looking:

But Obama didn’t mention any Republicans by name and barely fired a shot of criticism.

“If you want partisan rhetoric, I’m not your guy,” Obama said.

Our friend Jammie Wearing Fool decided to keep looking, all right — and found some oddly partisan rhetoric in Obama’s past.  For instance, who said that Republicans wouldn’t be satisfied on immigration until they installed a moat around the border — with alligators?   Who invited Paul Ryan to a speech just to call Ryan’s plan “radical“? Who told Republicans that they had to “sit in back” of the bus on policy?  Non-Partisan Rhetoric Man, that’s who.

I can play this game, too.  Who told his followers that “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun“?  Who called the GOP “hostage takers” for tough negotiation to keep Obama from raising taxes?  Who called opponents to amnesty “demagogues“? Non-Partisan Rhetoric Man, that’s who.

What have been your favorite Non-Partisan Rhetoric Man moments?

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!