Watching Barack Obama's address, one line brought an immediate reaction.
Transcript
As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re- imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.
The response was dramatic.
This nation didn't invent the automobile. It was Benz.
Of course. Everybody knows that, right?
Oops! Obama doesn't know it.
WASHINGTON -- It was clear from President Obama's address to Congress on Tuesday that he's a believer in the American automobile industry, but his grasp of automotive history suggests he could use a refresher course.
Obama said his administration won't protect auto makers from their own bad practices but is committed to a retooled auto industry, saying, "I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it."
The problem: The credit for internal combustion engines generally is given to German engineer, Karl Benz, who designed and built the world's first practical automobile in 1885. A steam-powered car was invented in 1769 by French inventor Nicolas Cugnot. Americans, on the other hand, are given credit for the mass production of cars.
He delivered the line about inventing the automobile with such conviction. It seemed like it must be true. He couldn't have slipped up on something so basic.
Well, he did.
This is a perfect example of that double standard in the media's reporting on Democrats and Republicans.
If President Bush had declared that we INVENTED the automobile, he would have been mocked as a buffoon.
Obama says it and no one cares.
Go figure.
8 comments:
Just a note, but none of the major media outlets ever referred to Bush as a "buffoon" moments after his speeches.
Also, while it is technically correct that there were patents for the auto mobile in other countries first, they were largely impractical and never manufactured. Their governments even worked to impede their development. It could be argued within the contexts of Obama's statements that he was talking about the auto mobile industry, and the automobile as we know it.
I am sure that there will be plenty of people in the media, just as you did, to JUMP on this statement. No double standard exists.
I am even pretty sure that Obama MEANT to draw attention to the fact that it doesn't matter where many ideas in the past originated... because ONLY IN AMERICA could ideas and innovations actually come to fruition. That is why so many scientists CAME HERE from other countries. If an invention can only exist on paper, then what is the point? That IS the claim of America. Ideas and innovations are OUR province because they are supported by our pioneering spirit and our system of free enterprise.
And he said the Transcontinental Railroad was built during the Civil War. Wrong! It was begun in July 1865 and finished in 1869. This genius does not know American History, and worse, he is obviously too arrogant to have his speeches fact checked.
After quite some googling this was the only site I could find that mentioned it today.
Gee, T.
Just admit that Obama screwed up instead of doing a desperate spin.
About the railroad--
Obama said: "In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry."
I think Obama has wiggle room here.
He didn't specifically say that the Transcontinental Railroad was completed during the Civil War, and railroad work was done during the war years.
However, Obama does say "tracks from one coast to another," meaning the Transcontinental Railroad. He does imply that the project took place and was completed "in the midst of civil war."
His statement is misleading, but it's a bit more open to interpretation, sort of in the league of "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." I think one could argue in Obama's defense on this one.
His line on the invention of the automobile is clear-cut. Absolutely no way to wiggle out of that flub.
Pretty funny, some of these comments crack me up...and bolster the point of this article.
With GW Bush, we were supposed to accept he was a doofus...for various reasons, but mostly on style.
With BH Obama, we are supposed listen to what he means, not what he says.
Well all I can say is, when Mr. Obama's words walk on both sides of the fence of any topic you choose within the same speech...you figure it out. Mr. Obama is better at this half-truth game than Bill Clinton ever hoped to be...and people will just accept this nonsense because it "sounds right."
Yay for intelligence and truth.
We just have to ask ourselves some common sense questions:
Is it more plausible that Obama, who ran one of the most disciplined campaigns on record, FORGOT to "google" before he spoke to the entire country...(to fact check his paper) so he failed on a easy question that could have been on "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"
OR...
He is a writer, professor, and eloquent speaker...so he was speaking FIGURATIVELY. He used metaphor (the car and the car industry are one and the same).
You can't just use dry figures in an impassioned speech! I can guarantee that he will continue to try to put information into context using imagery and symbolism. He is not trying to "fool" anyone, nor is he ignorant of the facts.
(And you can not blame George Bush's lack of oratory skills on his opponents.)
You may think that you are pointing out a glaring error in Obama's speech, but the probability is that he CHOSE those words to make a point, or that he flubbed a line (and accidentally omitted the word "industry" after the word "auto"). I will have to hear him admit that he did not know an elementary school fact before I jump to that conclusion, given the circumstances.
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