Obama and 'Superfluous'

Obama blames his problems with the word "superfluous" on his lip with 12 stitches.

His flub has nothing to do with his lip.

He screwed up his remarks, plain and simple.

Did he have 12 stitches in his lip when he couldn't pronounce "corpse-man"?

Did he have 12 stitches in his lip when he spoke about "e-pants-ipation"?

("E-pants-ipation" is my personal favorite.)

He wasn't stitched up when he referred to "Twitters."



Transcript, from the White House

OBAMA: Being here with tonight’s honorees, reflecting on their contributions, I’m reminded of a Supreme Court opinion by the great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. In a case argued before the Court in 1926, the majority ruled that the state of New York couldn’t regulate the price of theater tickets, because, in the opinion of the majority, the theater was not a public necessity. They argued, in effect, that the experience of attending the theater was superfluous. And this is what Justice Holmes had to say. “To many people -- he wrote in his dissent -- ”the -- let me start that over. “To many people, the superfluous -- it’s this lip that's -- (Laughter.) It’s hard to say. (Laughter.) You try it when you’ve had 12 stitches. (Laughter.) “The superfluous” -- thank you. (Applause.) All right. “To many people the superfluous is necessary.”

The theater is necessary. Dance is necessary. Song is necessary. The arts are necessary -- they are a necessary part of our lives.

Are the media and the Leftists mocking Obama for his terribly awkward moment?

Are they treating him the way they treated President Bush?

Of course not.

Everyone makes verbal gaffes. Let's be fair about this.