Obamaisms

Obama-isms are gaffes, historical errors, falsehoods, and badly-worded statements spoken by Barack Obama. See also Bushisms and Obamaspeak. It should, however, be noted that all politicians do make at least some speaking mistakes. With Obama in the public eye, his mistakes are more noticeable, and such an article is understandable.

Examples

• “From the bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor….”

• “John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.”

• “There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born.” (Obama was born in 1961 and the Selma march was in 1965)

• “I've now been in 57 states, I think, one left to go.”

• “….when you spread the wealth around, I think it’s good for everybody.”

• “If they [his daughters] make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

• “Thank you Sioux City” Obama said in Sioux Falls.

• “My father served in World War II, and when he came home, he got the services that he needed.” (At the end of WWII, Obama’s father was 10 years old.)

• Obama suggested that we need Arabic translators in Afghanistan, where they don’t speak Arabic.

• “Well, Tim, first of all, it's not me who's criticized these proposals,” Obama said to Matt Lauer.

• “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?...I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff,” Obama said to a crowd in Iowa, where there are no Whole Foods.

• “Well let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's.”

• “Israel is an ally of ours. It is the most important ally we have in the region, and there is no doubt that we would act forcefully and appropriately on any attack against Iran, nuclear or otherwise.”

• “I'm running to be commander of chief on a record of standing up for our wounded warriors.”

• "If I talked to Iran, I'm going to tell them, 'You should develop a nuclear weapon...'"

• "It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian..." (There is no Austrian language). [1]

• “There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM. You don’t go to a bank teller."

• "We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad”

• "The Qaddafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him."

• "You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change.”

• "Asking a Billionaire to Pay the Same Tax Rate as a Jew - as a Janitor."

• "Your outstanding mayor, Brian Higgins, is here. Give him a big round of applause," (The Mayor of Buffalo is Byron Brown, not Brian Higgins)

• "Navy Corpse-man[sic]..."

See also

• Bushisms