One of the reasons Barack Obama didn’t make it earlier to Louisiana was his speech to soldiers at Fort Bliss to make the second anniversary of the end of combat operations in Iraq.  He might have gotten more cheers in the evacuated areas of Hurricane Isaac’s landfall.  According to the Daily Caller, Obama met with such a stony reception that he tried to cajole a reaction out of the audience:

His praise for the soldiers — and for his own national-security policies — won cheers from only a small proportion of the soldiers and families in the cavernous aircraft-hanger.

The audience remains quiet even when the commander-in-chief thanked the soldiers’ families, and cited the 198 deaths of their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The audience’s reaction was so flat that the president tried twice to elicit a reaction from the crowd.

“Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.

The selected soldiers who were arrayed behind the president sat quietly throughout the speech.

That, says Damian at e-Nough, is the real OOTD:

So when Mr. Obama brags on himself, silence. When he promises something, a smattering of applause. When he recognizes the military, cheers. Now why is that? [We consider why that is.] Perhaps it’s because they sense the depth of his sincerity (and this). Perhaps it’s because they have experienced his support first-hand (and this and this). Then again, perhaps they’ve been fooled once too often.

In an e-mail to me, Damian adds:

But of course Mr. Obama is not hearing them. Not at the podium and not in his policies. It is an unintended irony. That is the Obamateurism. That and Mr. Obama’s rhetorical lameness laid bare. And there is also the delicious synchronicity of Mr. Obama going flat at a military base named Bliss.

Mr. Obama now needs an applause light to cue his audiences when to clap, when to laugh.

How bad was the speech and its reception?

CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over.

Maybe Obama would have been better off speaking to, er, empty chairs.

It’s time once again to show our support for Day By Day and its artist-publisher, Chris Muir.  Chris holds an annual fundraiser to keep the adventures of Sam, Zed, Jan, and Damon coming.  Chris, whose artwork has enhanced the OOTD feature since its inception for Hot Air readers, uses the funds raised for only the continuance of DBD.  As always, the fundraiser has many fabulous gifts available at whatever level one chooses to donate.  If you’re thinking about donating at the Jan/Damon level or above, you’ll get a Last Supper Red vs Blue magnet, which has depictions of personalities from New Media — myself included.  Donating at the Anatoly Level will get you a 9×15 print of the artwork.  Dig deep and be part of supporting the one of the best New Media cartoonists in the biz!

And if you want something really cool …

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.