No laughing here over Obama's latest travel gaffe
Just watch, sometime soon -- maybe even this morning -- some lamestream journalist will start collecting all the gaffes from President Obama's latest foreign jaunt.
The funniest so far was his not knowing what day or year it was in London on Tuesday when he signed the guest book at Westminster Abbey. Obama reportedly asked someone nearby what the date was and they told him "May 24," assuming incorrectly that the leader of the free world would know what year it was (2011).
Instead, Obama wrote in his leftist scrawl "24 May 2008."
Understandable in a way. Those were heady days back then when the ex-state senator was not crawling along with approval ratings in the 40s and he was fixing to tie up the Democratic nomination and make Oprah Winfrey cry off her false eyelashes in Denver.
Although, to be accurate, on May 24 2008 Hillary Clinton had yet to ....
And for sure some journalist will drag up his favorite hilarious Obama gaffes from the past -- the 57 states gaffe, the president of Canada gaffe, the Sioux-City-Sioux-Falls-where-are-we-anyway gaffe, the Austrians-speak-Austrian gaffe and the beloved Cinco de Cuatro gaffe.
But we're not going to do that here this morning. Nor will we be detailing the rough ....
... patch the president's limo encountered Monday in Dublin. Somebody already did that here with a funny video.
Oh, wait, that hypothetical journo would also recall the 2009 Obama gift gaffes -- the movie DVDs for Prime Minister Gordon Brown that wouldn't work on British players, the toy helicopters for Brown's children, the iPod for Queen Elizabeth II thoughtfully pre-loaded with some of the Real Good Talker's own speeches.
And the tiny pat that Michelle Obama gave that darling little lady who wears such huge hats anyway, bless her royal heart.
This time the Obamas were in better form. No royal touching. And they gave Her Majesty a leather-bound volume of memorabilia from her parents' 1939 U.S. visit.
And the queen gave Obama a collection of letter exchanges between American presidents and Queen Victoria, which the Chicago pol will no doubt plunge into the moment the NBA playoffs finish, if they ever do.
The Obamas also had a pleasant chat with the royal newlyweds, who didn't invite the Obamas to their wedding. The Americans were busy, anyway. It must be a real thrill for Obama to stay overnight in the palace of the monarch who ruled his father's homeland for so long.
The good news is that Obama got off on this foreign journey without launching air attacks against another country, unlike the March family tour of South America when he took on Libya -- which we're still taking on, come to think of it.
It's also good that Obama was out of town for coverage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. (His full text is here.)
The Israeli leader's remarks were better received by Congress than the American leader's most recent speech there.
Netanyahu got sandbagged last week by Obama's Middle East address, talking publicly about, among other things, peace talks there starting with the pre-1967 borders of Israel.
Only troublemakers would suggest that Netanyahu's two dozen bipartisan standing ovations from Congress -- the longest coming when the Israeli bluntly said that starting from the indefensible 1967 borders was a non-starter -- had anything to do with rebuffing the president's treatment of America's closest Middle Eastern ally.
With Donald Trump on hype hiatus, the president's trip has provided laugh fodder for late-night comics. Jay Leno reported late last night that in Obama's meeting with Queen Elizabeth, the British ruler had suggested returning to pre-1776 borders.
Speaking of jokes, let's talk secret code names a sec. Obama took a little heat early this month from Native Americans, who wanted him to apologize for allowing the military's execution of Osama bin Laden to be codenamed Operation Geronimo after the fabled Apache warrior.
Every secret service also has secret code names for prominent protectees.The British chose a possibly derogatory codename for the American president this time, the word "Chalaque." That's Punjabi for crafty or cunning.
Scotland Yard innocently explained the code names are chosen by computer, which doesn't explain why they didn't gin up another.
But anyway, the idea of secret code names is that those folks with the little coiled wires draining out of their ears can say the secret word on the radio without tipping off bad guys who they're discussing.
If we were one of those annoying journalists poking around, we would ask, What exactly is the point of secret code names that everyone knows?
But we won't do that.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Photo: John Stillwell / AFP / Getty Images (top); Charles Dharapak / Associated Press.
That's OK - I'm more curious to see if he carries the "other 7" States in 2012 election....But the best part was, "We have one more to go"...Making it officially (in his head) there are 58 States....The More he opens his mouth, the more he shows he's nothing but a hack
Posted by: Mike | May 25, 2011 at 04:26 AM
Malcolm is an idiot! Netenyahu was cheered because the gutless members of congress are pandering for jewish donations to their election committees. Netenyahu is a war criminal and Israel is a nation with too many past transgressions( occupying another country's land and controlling the population under military rule) for 44 years that it has no other country as an ally in the world. The Congress has only proved itself disgraceful once again!
Posted by: Peter Grundy | May 25, 2011 at 05:36 AM
... or perhaps my coffee wasn't bitter enough to walk my sleepy morning brain through thickly veiled irony ... ?
Posted by: Vinci | May 25, 2011 at 06:06 AM
I must say, listening to Prime Minister Netanyahu's address to Congress, made me realize what a real leader, devoted to the well being of his country and to the advancement of all things that civilized people aspire to achieve, passionate about his beliefs, knowledgable and committed to his ideals, is. Amazing. America needs a leader like that. And we haven't had one for many many years.
Posted by: joinamerica | May 25, 2011 at 06:28 AM
Silly and rude, Andrew.
Posted by: Rodney Hoffman | May 25, 2011 at 06:43 AM
I'm glad that Mr. Malcolm didn't bring up Obama's faux pas of a toast at the dinner or Michelle's multiple, windy wardrobe/hairstyle malfunctions.
Posted by: JFW | May 25, 2011 at 07:02 AM
Obama can be considered the American version of a European court jester. What a circus!
Posted by: Al | May 25, 2011 at 07:17 AM
If Obama fell flat on his face in a puddle in front of the British Museum on world wide TV he'd still be 1/1000000th of the EMBARRASSMENT that his predecessor was - the idea that Obama's standing in the world is diminished by his car getting stuck or, my goodness, he gave the British PM a crappy gift is the joke here - as if his 'gaffes' were as dispicable as declaring war on a country based on a pack of lies, and sending thousands of soldiers to their deaths to perpetuate it is easily dismissable - WHO CARES??
And Will and Kate "didn't invite" the President? The implication being they were 'snubbed' course - PURE baloney, the Obama's would NOT have gone even if invited, since the security for them would have COMPLETLY overshadowed the wedding
- Please AM, your snide, childishness is showing for all to see...
Posted by: PSS | May 25, 2011 at 07:29 AM
You should update to also include the gaffe of talking during 'god save the queen' during the banquet, and trying to raise a toast during the song - during which everyone stood still, and with tradition, took a sip after the song finished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG7VSt0_VcU
Posted by: Simon | May 25, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Actually, the Queen is well-known for preferring personalized gifts over expensive ones. The iPod was loaded with material from the Queen's 2007 visit to the States, and as such was a personal, well-thought-out gift -- hardly a gaffe.
Posted by: Linda | May 25, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Wow! No comments? If Bush or Palin had signed the guestbook and been off by 3 YEARS, the Dems would be all over this comments section. Don't know what year it is? Don't know how many states there are? Don't know who our allies are and who our enemies are? Vacation, golf, campaign... Wake me when I'm re-elected.
Posted by: Mark | May 25, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Whatever. Obama is decent but not perfect. All the politicians these days make lots of gaffes, Obama is no exception, and of course it is more reported because he is prez. Frankly I think focusing on gaffes is a distraction from the real issues, especially all that royal protocol bullshit.
Posted by: Rojas | May 26, 2011 at 08:40 AM
You're tiresome, Andrew.
(AM responds: Appreciate your loyalty, Scott. What a guy!)
Posted by: Scott | May 26, 2011 at 09:49 AM
some recent polls
Rasmussen 5/22-24/11 approve 50 disapprove 48
Gallup 5/22-24/11 approve 53 disapprove 41
FOX 5/15-17/11 approve 55 disapprove 41
Posted by: dj spellchecka | May 26, 2011 at 10:02 AM
"Just watch, sometime soon -- maybe even this morning -- some lamestream journalist will start collecting all the gaffes from President Obama's latest foreign jaunt."
Um, isn't that was the liberal lamestream media like the LA Times had been doing to GWBush during his entire Presidency? Hurts when the shoe's on the other foot, doesn't it?
(AM responds: No, no pain whatsoever. If you get a chance, read the item.)
Posted by: John Allen | May 26, 2011 at 10:03 AM
Another Obama vacation
Posted by: JimmyZ | May 27, 2011 at 04:25 AM
I dont think this piece of article is correct or actually the truth in regards to Obama signature and the (2008) mistake as purported.I beg to disagree because it is only a fool that can believe the president signed (2008) as a mistake..or that he forgot the year (2011).The year he signed must have been agreed by the parties involved before he signed it.
Posted by: Mike Roy | May 30, 2011 at 07:43 AM