Early in his presidency, Barack Obama had quite a few vetting blunders — appointing people who had tax problems (Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle), corruption probes (Bill Richardson), and so on. It doesn’t appear anything has improved on Team Obama. Last week, Obama had local businessman Daniel Potkanowicz introduce him at a Youngstown, Ohio rally — and the local CBS affiliate noticed something oddly familiar about him:

An Ohio man who says he once lost his job and introduced President Barack Obama at a rally on Friday had been accused of stealing trade secrets by a former boss.

Court records show that Daniel Potkanowicz and a business partner in the Youngstown area were ordered to pay $500,000 to Clearview Window & Door after a judge ruled in 2009 that they had violated trade secrets.

The man who took Potkanowicz to court couldn’t believe his eyes:

Richard Albright, owner of Clearview, couldn’t believe Potkanowicz would be allowed to introduce the president.

“I’m wondering who put him up there,” Albright told The Vindicator. “He was involved in a scandal, and he’s introducing the president.”

Well, the local station explained the rigorous selection method used:

Potkanowicz now works for Summer Garden Food Manufacturing, a company Obama toured on Friday. He says the president’s campaign selected him to speak after talking with management there.

But just remember — the rest of us have to show picture-ID to get to see Obama attack Republicans for requiring photo-ID verification at the voting booth. (via JWF and Instapundit)

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!