Obama Can't Get the Facts Straight, but No Problem - After All, People Were Clapping
There are plenty of media people out there ready to write-off Illinois' senator-in-absentia Barack Obama's quest to be the Democrat candidate for President, but we think that would be premature. We are concerned about BO's latest number gaffe, however. While we were willing to overlook his gross mis-statement of the number of persons killed (10 vs. 10,000) as a result of the Kansas tornadoes as a mistake anyone as green as Obama is could make, his latest wrong number shows a growing disregard for facts that is downright troubling. At a fundraising speech in Detroit, Obama stated that Japanese cars get 45 miles to the gallon, markedly different from the 30 mpg actual figure.
The Detroit News reacted with an harsh editorial. "Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois says the problems facing the Big Three automakers aren't entirely of their own making, but for those that are, he's willing and able to help if they'll turn their businesses over to the government" begins the editorial, and concludes, "Sen. Obama embarrassed himself in Detroit with his lack of understanding."
“He is going to stumble. He is going to make mistakes,” says Mrs. Obama, who has now quit her $275,000/yr job to regale small groups of voters with tales of her husband's dirty socks and other important matters.
As to the Senator's self-assessment? "You know, sometimes when you're in the heat of the moment, and you're talking fast and people are clapping, you misspeak," Obama said.
When you're the President, there is a lot of "heat of the moment" time; people clap, too. Cause for concern? Yeah, I do think. On the other hand, take a brief look at the comments of "friends" of Barack Obama's at Myspace. When it comes to misspeaking, I don't think many of them would notice the difference . . .
Update, there he goes again: This one is a more enjoyable gem uttered by Obama: "I think that we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and been brought up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed,” Mr. Obama said. He added, “There are a lot of African-American kids who are still struggling — even those who are in the middle class may be first-generation as opposed to fifth- or sixth-generation college attendees."
Fifth or sixth generation college attendees? Obama has to be joking or simply deluded--very, very few of those around. In fact, following explosive growth in colleges at the end of the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century fewer than 1,000 colleges with 160,000 students existed in the United States--and that was only four generations ago for the 66% of high school graduates who now enroll in college. (The population of the United States in 1900 was 76,212,168, meaning 2/10 of one percent of the population was attending college.) In fact, it wasn't until 1918 that every state required an elementary school education. College attendance was rare indeed until after World War II. By 1955, there were 670,000 college freshman in the United States; that number climbed to 2,630,00 college freshmen by 2004.
The Detroit News reacted with an harsh editorial. "Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois says the problems facing the Big Three automakers aren't entirely of their own making, but for those that are, he's willing and able to help if they'll turn their businesses over to the government" begins the editorial, and concludes, "Sen. Obama embarrassed himself in Detroit with his lack of understanding."
“He is going to stumble. He is going to make mistakes,” says Mrs. Obama, who has now quit her $275,000/yr job to regale small groups of voters with tales of her husband's dirty socks and other important matters.
As to the Senator's self-assessment? "You know, sometimes when you're in the heat of the moment, and you're talking fast and people are clapping, you misspeak," Obama said.
When you're the President, there is a lot of "heat of the moment" time; people clap, too. Cause for concern? Yeah, I do think. On the other hand, take a brief look at the comments of "friends" of Barack Obama's at Myspace. When it comes to misspeaking, I don't think many of them would notice the difference . . .
Update, there he goes again: This one is a more enjoyable gem uttered by Obama: "I think that we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and been brought up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed,” Mr. Obama said. He added, “There are a lot of African-American kids who are still struggling — even those who are in the middle class may be first-generation as opposed to fifth- or sixth-generation college attendees."
Fifth or sixth generation college attendees? Obama has to be joking or simply deluded--very, very few of those around. In fact, following explosive growth in colleges at the end of the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century fewer than 1,000 colleges with 160,000 students existed in the United States--and that was only four generations ago for the 66% of high school graduates who now enroll in college. (The population of the United States in 1900 was 76,212,168, meaning 2/10 of one percent of the population was attending college.) In fact, it wasn't until 1918 that every state required an elementary school education. College attendance was rare indeed until after World War II. By 1955, there were 670,000 college freshman in the United States; that number climbed to 2,630,00 college freshmen by 2004.
posted by Publia at 2:04 PM
4 Comments:
Obama's plan to partially nationalize the automotive industry strikes me as particularly wrong today, as the private market has shown perfectly capable of owning Chrysler.
Why on Earth does Obama want the taxpayers to take over the liabilities of the auto industry when the market is more than capable of the challenge?
JBP
The answer is easy; Obama is a socialist and doesn't believe in free market economics. Look at his record and what he says--it is very clear.
Obama still believes in solutions that are being rejected where they have tried and failed. Despite an engaging personality and advanced skills in speech making, Obama is the old, tired Marxism wrapped up in a pretty new package. This is why I blog about him and his campaign. People are being swept up by his energy and youth and not stopping to think.
The troubling part is the press wants him to be a rational person, and publishes stuff like (in the Economist)
"Mr Obama may end up with more market-oriented ideas elsewhere too. While the Clinton economic team is run by experienced practitioners, Mr Obama relies on his Senate staff and a growing group of young academics, all of whom have impeccable neoclassical credentials."
which sounds good but in practice, has led to supporting ethanol tariffs, automotive nationalization, and spending on such projects as the Bridge to Nowhere, none of which seems very market oriented to me.
JBP
Obama is rational enough, but he has that great lack of economic knowledge common to the left wing. He distrusts private solutions; he believes in big government.
From my understanding, the big bucks that Obama has been raising has translated into a campaign team with big election expertise--just not on issues. Obama has a history of ultra-liberal policies.
I can't believe that the curse of being the keynote speaker at the Democrat national covention won't catch up with him; traditionally, it's been a one-way ticket to national obscurity.
Plus, Hillary's working hard to deep-six him. Nevertheless, I am far from comfortable about him.
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