Remember when Barack Obama told people that he needed to become President so that he could address “the fierce moral urgency of now?”

That was then, and this is, well … now. On Wednesday, he scolded a crowd of supporters for believing then that “now” meant, er now. Or apparently, that “now” any time between “now” and 2014, or something:

So it’s been a long, tough journey. But we have made some incredible strides together. Yes, we have. (Laughter.) But the thing that we all have to remember is, is that as much good as we’ve done, precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we were inheriting so many challenges, that we’re not even halfway there yet.

When I said, “change we can believe in,” I didn’t say “change we can believe in tomorrow.” (Laughter.) Not “change we can believe in next week.” We knew this was going to take time, because we’ve got this big, messy, tough democracy.

So “now” no longer “now” or even “next week,” which technically would be “then” anyway. And why? Because Obama is shocked, shocked! to discover that we have a big, messy, tough democracy … which apparently we won’t have “then,” whenever that might be.

Actually, I think that John Hinderaker explains it best:

Now let’s look at the very next sentence in Obama’s campaign speech: “When I said, ‘change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say ‘change we can believe in tomorrow.’” Today’s stock market collapse, on top of all of the other disasters, domestic and foreign, that Obama has visited on us, leads me to agree: that’s right; not change we can believe in tomorrow, but rather change we can believe in in November 2012.

Well, if we’re “not even halfway there yet” and Obama’s been in office for almost 3 years, even 2012 might be too soon for “now.”  Maybe it will take Obama that long to realize that the only reason he’s living at the White House is because of that “big, messy, tough democracy” — or maybe he’ll only realize it when that same democracy gives him the 2012 boot  … then.

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!