The Loud Talker

The Washington Post recently posted a list of its Best/Worst Political Quotes of 2011. As you might expect from this kool-aid drinking rag, there’s not a single Barack Obama quote in the mix. Imagine that, our own president failed to make a best of list of political quotes? Hmm. But the Post list does includes Cain, Huntsman, Cuomo, Palin, Bachman, Romney, Christie, Kyl, Weiner and Perry. You can see where they are going, it’s basically just a sucker punch list of low hanging fruit and another sign that some of the press won’t dare print anything to offend the president.

Therefore, in the name of historical accuracy and political fairness I offer the following list of quotes to remind people that our president is quite capable of saying and doing stupid things. Last year I listed 49 presidential gaffes. this year I could only make it to 37 before giving up out of disgust. I’m sick of our president, which is something I’m not really proud of. I would love to respect the leader of our nation, but in my world respect is earned, not assumed.

A shout out to Ed Morrissey, whom I consider one of the best and most consistent conservative bloggers out there. The following list was culled from the ongoing Obamateurism inventory posted regularly by Ed and his team at HotAir.com.

1. 12/5/11 – Hypocrite Vacationer - “Now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery.  Right now, it’s time to step on the gas.  We need to get this done.  And I expect that it’s going to get done before Congress leaves.  Otherwise, Congress may not be leaving, and we can all spend Christmas here together.” Then the president announced his 17-day Christmas vacation. Update: Obama smartly decided to stay home and let his wife and daughters go without him. Kudos for that. But you have to wonder what sort of man would say that and do that in the first place?
2. 11/22/11 – Hoover Sucks - ” We’re not going to win it if we just hand out more tax cuts to people who don’t need them, let companies play by their own rules without any restriction, and we just hope somehow that the success of the wealthiest few translates in the prosperity for everybody else. We have tried that, by the way. We tried it for 10 years. It’s part of what got into the mess that we’re in. It doesn’t work. It didn’t work for Herbert Hoover, when it was called trickle-down economics during the Depression. It didn’t work between 2000 and 2008, and it won’t work today.”  To quote Ed Morrissey at HotAir, “Obama is dead wrong. Data from the White House’s own website shows that Hoover increased, rather than cut, spending in the Great Depression, and ran up deficits that were huge by historical standards.
3. 11/16/11 – Pass the Poi - “One other thing that I want to say about this: When I meet with world leaders, what’s striking — whether it’s in Europe or here in Asia.” Um, Hawaii is not in Asia.
4. 11/14/11 – Lazy as a dog - “But we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted — well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America.” Ed Morrissey’s response: “Gee, why wouldn’t people want to come to the US to invest? After all, it’s not like we have a government expanding costly regulation at a breakneck rate, or a President sounding the dog whistle for class warfare, or his allies in the unions fomenting unrest aimed at financial institutions, let alone a corporate tax code that makes investing in Congress and the White House more lucrative than investing in American business. The problem isn’t that America is lazy. It’s that we picked bad leadership in 2008.”
5. 11/9/11 – Oy Vay! - French President Sarkozy, ’I don’t want to see him anymore, he’s a liar.’ “Presidenet Obama, ‘You’ve had enough of him, but I have to deal with him every day!’ Stay classy, Mr. President.
6. 10/17/11 – Sake kudasai! - Obama’s crack protocol team strikes again. A dinner to honor leader from South Korea features an all Japanese menu. I guess they all look the same, huh Barack?
7. 10/11/11 – Get a job, work for free! - Given the chance to generate an actual job, albeit short term, the Obama team fails miserably by having a contest for free artwork. Why pay when you can steal for free? Official rules state “All submissions will become the property of Obama for America.”
8. 10/7/11 – Losing money, but making it up in volume. - ”At a White House press conference on Thursday, President Barack Obama said the legislation he has proposed to create jobs could “grow the economy as much as 2 percent.” However, the White House estimates that the plan itself will cost $447 billion — or 2.97 percent of the 2011 GDP of $15.012 trillion that is currently projected by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.” For those not good at math, gaining 2% by spending 3% is known as a loss.
9. 9/23/11 – Define Violence.  - During a UN speech Obama said “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.” As Ed Morrissey says, “Qaddafi’s regime is only “over” — we hope — because NATO bombed the hell out of his army and Libyans fought a war of rebellion for the last several months. If Obama has forgotten, it would be strange indeed, since he’s the man who ordered the bombing to start in the first place. What is that if not “change through violence”?
10. 9/22/11 – Balanced What? - In a Rose Garden speech about attacking our financial problems President Obama said “We can’t just cut our way out of this hole. It’s going to take a balanced approach.” But actual analysis of his proposal shows that “When that $1.8 billion is removed from the equation, the true nature of the president’s “deficit-reduction” “plan” is laid bare: $1.4 trillion in net deficit reduction consisting of $150 billion in spending increases combined with $1.6 trillion in tax increases.” Where’s the balance? And don’t forget that Obama has said he won’t wait for Congress if he doesn’t get his way. That’s not balance, that’s ego.
11. 8/29/11 – Slow down there, farmer! - ”When a farmer complained to Barack Obama two weeks ago at a townhall meeting about rumors of regulations that would force him and his colleagues to get a commercial driver’s license to operate his farm equipment, the President assured him that it was probably nothing. “Folks in Washington” like to get “ginned up” and shout “Look what’s coming down the pipe…” So Politico decided to give it a try. When a Politico reporter decided to take the president’s advice and call the USDA for an answer to the Atkinson town hall attendee’s question, he found myself in a bureaucratic equivalent of hot potato — getting bounced from the feds to Illinois state agriculture officials to the state farm bureau. The advice took Politico’s MJ Lee on a two-day odyssey — and still ended up with no answer. Instead of demonstrating how silly regulatory rumors are, the exercise proved that no one really knows what regulations we have, what has been proposed, and who’s responsible for them. It turned into a great example of just how overregulated we are and how inefficient the government is at applying regulation.
12. 8/25/11 – Let them eat jet fuel. - How out of touch can the Obamas be with reality? Perhaps they could have thought about the message sent when Michelle and Barack took separate flights to Martha’s Vineyard, 4 hours apart? Where are the greenies screaming about the CO2 footprint? Could Queen Michelle not find four hours of activity while waiting for her King so they could travel together?
13. 8/23/11 – Do Nothing President - Obama demands action from Congress (something he does a lot, like a spoiled child), yet fails to realize that he needs to send the bills to Congress first. Furthermore, the bills from this particular tantrum have been delayed by Harry Reid’s senate, not the Republican-controlled congress. One more thing: the bills Obama is demanding are actually trade agreements that were signed under the Bush administration and stonewalled by Harry Reid.
14. 8/18/11 – Under the bus, eh? – “We’ve got folks in America driving Kias and Hyundais. I want to see folks in Korea driving Fords and Chryslers and Chevys. I want to sell goods all over the world that are stamped with three words: “Made in America.” Quoted standing in front of his Canadian-made bus.
15. 8/8/11 – Cha ching! - Obama railed against “big money flooding the airwaves and slash-and-burn politics, sometimes I think that core belief in what is possible here in America gets lost.” Said while speaking at a $35k per plate fund raising dinner.
16. 8/8/11 – Don’t Worry, Be Happy! - “But what I want the American people and our partners around the world to know is this: We are going to get through this,” said Obama. “Things will get better, and we are going to get there together.” Nine ours later S&P downgrades America.
17. 7/24/11 - I see dead people - “Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.” Sadly, Obama awarded it posthumously two years ago.
18. 7/11/11 – Define Rhetoric - On July 10 Obama said “It’s my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we’ll all leave our political rhetoric at the door.” The next day he says “The debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners, for oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars.”
19. 6/15/11 – Shoveling It - Demanded spending of nearly a trillion dollars to get the economy going with shovel-ready jobs, then later admits that “Shovel-ready was not as … uh .. shovel-ready as we expected.”
20. 6/10/11 – More coffee? - ”The Wrangler you build here directly supports 3,000 other jobs, with parts manufactured all across America. Doors from Michigan. Axles from Kentucky. Tires from Tennessee. And this plant indirectly supports hundreds of other jobs right here in Toledo. After all, without you, who’d eat at Chet’s or Inky’s or Rudy’s?” Well, not enough people. The restaurant Obama said would be helped out by the auto bailout went out of business a week after this quote, partially due to the bad economy and partially due to the no-smoking ban created by local politicians.
21. 6/13/11 – Family Guy - Pens an article for People magazine and pines for more time with his kids. Then he goes golfing again.
22. 5/24/11 – “Cheers!” - Obama’s crack protocol team fails him again, he starts toasting the Queen of England way too early and embarrasses himself in the process. Watch the pain here.
23. 5/10/11 – Look! - Bush was ripped by the press over a photo of him looking out of the window to see Katrina damage. Obama flew over the flooded Mississippi River on the way to two fundraisers in Texas and didn’t even look out the window.
24. 5/9/11 – Massive Ego - Any rational person recognizes that the killing of Bin Laden was a massive military victory. He was not found by a president or congress. He was found thanks to the efforts of our stellar military carrying out plans launched by President GW Bush and rightfully continued by President Obama. You would think a president would tip his hat to his predecessor, but not this one. That would be classy. It took a week for the administration to acknowledge the former president, and even that was delivered by an aide, not Obama himself.
25. 4/27/11 – I Don’t Remember - During a Facebook town hall, Obama describes a double payment scenario with Medicare as a reason we need healthcare reform. well, the problem he used was actually fixed by the Republican congress in 2005. Obama voted on the issue, the one that would fix the problem he told his Facebook audience. He voted against the fix.
26. 4/26/11 – No Easter Bunny? - President Obama failed to release a statement or a proclamation recognizing the national observance of Easter Sunday, Christianity’s most sacred holiday. By comparison, the White House has released statements recognizing the observance of major Muslim holidays and released statements in 2010 on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha. The White House also failed to release a statement marking Good Friday. However, they did release an eight-paragraph statement heralding Earth Day.
27. 4/6/11 – Cap This - President Obama claimed that his Energy Secretary Chu designed cap that stopped the BP Gulf oil leak. Not only is this a ridiculous like, but Chu’s involvement actually delayed the capping of the well.
28. 4/1/11 – Shhh, its a secret. - ”President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday. The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.”
29. 3/24/11 – Getting It Wrong About War - ”Speaking in Chile to defend his decision to launch Operation Odyssey Dawn, President Obama couldn’t resist taking a swipe at George Bush, in a clumsy attempt to make himself look superior. As reported by Fox News, the President declared: “In the past there have been times when the United States acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence typically it was the United States military that ended up bearing the entire burden.” As the folks at Fox quickly pointed out, Bush actually had twice as many international allies for the invasion of Iraq as Obama has put together for his adventure in Libya.”
30. 3/31/11 - Signs of Hypocrisy - ”But it was also the height of political season, so you had a lot of slogans and gimmicks and outraged politicians waving three-point-plans for two-dollar gas – you remember that-’drill, baby,drill’-we were going through all that. And none of it would really do anything to solve the problem.” So the president is complaining about Republicans using slogans and signs, while giving a speech in front of a wall covered with his latest slogan “Winning The Future.” WTF?
31. 3/25/11 – Politically Correct Stupidity - The Obama Administration refuses to use the word “war” when referring to our military actions overseas. First they rename it “Kinetic Military Action” then two weeks later change it to “time-limited, scope-limited military action.”
32. 3/14/11 – Dum Dum - President Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, “No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.” Maybe that pesky communism and fear of being shot over free speech has something to do with it? No pity for you.
33. 3/1/11 – Flying to Stretch It Out - Out of touch, round 27. What would the press have said if George W Bush flew his personal trainer to DC from Texas every week? Perhaps they would call it wasteful and arrogant? Well, Obama does this and the press says nothing.
34. 2/28/11 – Pay up, or die. - Americans being rescued from violence in Libya expected to reimburse government. “Those who take the ferry will be expected to reimburse the government for the cost, estimated to be equivalent to the one-way commercial ferry crossing of the distance from Tripoli to the Maltese capital of Valletta, it said. Any onward travel from Malta must be paid for by the passengers, the notice said.”
35. 2/2/11 – Overreachy Overreach - Judge Vinson in the Northern District of Florida ruled that ObamaCare was not constitutional. You could say that the federal mandate for all citizens to purchase something they may not want or need as an overreach. Wanton use of executive orders and EPA regulations to avoid that pesky checks and balances concept might be an overreach. But the president considers this judges ruling an overreach. Pot, meet kettle.
36. 1/18/11 – Do as I say, not as I vote. - The White House warned that voting to oppose the increase would be “highly irresponsible.” Yet when Obama had the chance to vote for it, he voted no. He then said “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership . Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”
37. 1/14/11 – Hypocritical Campaigner - Obama scolds republicans John Boehner and Mitch McConnell by saying “there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012,” Two weeks later the White House announces Obama’s unprecedented early as hell campaign program.