WE DECLARE the Birth of the Term “Obamaisms”: Obama’s Embarrassing Gaffes Continue

IS IT ANY WONDER THAT an overwhelming number of flag officers want Hillary as their commander in chief?

YES, there are more embarrassing gaffes (NOW CALLED OBAMAISMS) — BUT THIS TIME, they have to do with national security, our two wars, and — ahem — the prime subjects of the Senate Foreign Relations committee on which he supposedly sits. Via Halperin and ABC News:

(1 OBAMAISM) The Illinois Senator incorrectly says Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan (but Afghans don’t speak Arabic). Later corrected mistake.

(2 OBAMAISM) Obama also stressed need for agricultural specialists in Afghanistan to help develop other crops than heroin poppies (but oil fields not poppy fields are a major source of U.S. technical assistance).

The full stories are below the fold. But, first, let’s recall his other recent gaffes — which call into question his mental state AND his mental acuity — which we wrote on May 10, and which Larry updated on May 11 with “Is Barack Obama Mentally Fatigued?“:

(PREVIOUS OBAMAISM #1) “I am a patriotic citizen of the United States — all 57 of them!”

(PREVIOUS OBAMAISM #2) “Timmuh, er, Matt, er Timmuh, er Matt” (he repeatedly confused Matt Lauer with Tim Russert — which is impossible, even if one only considers the dramatic physical differences!)

(PREVIOUS OBAMAISM #3) In early May, he talked to 30 supporters and told them the story of the “modest” background of himself and his wife — 10 minutes later, he told the same story all over again to the same people.

(PREVIOUS OBAMAISM #4) In a speech, he poignantly referred to his “father’s” flag-draped coffin — except that he really meant his grandfather’s, who was a WWII veteran, and not his father, who died a Kenyan. (Even Howie Kurtz noted the oddity.)

From the ABC News report:

[I]n Rush Limbaugh’s hometown, Sen. Barack Obama came up with some novel reasons why the U.S. may be struggling in the war in Afghanistan.

"We don’t have enough capacity right now to deal with it — and it’s not just the troops," Obama, D-Ill., told a crowd in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Obama posited — incorrectly — that Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan — forgetting, momentarily, that Afghans don’t speak Arabic.

"We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then its harder for us to use them in Afghanistan," Obama said.

The vast majority of military translators in both war zones are drawn from the local population.
Naturally they speak the local language. In Iraq, that’s Arabic or Kurdish. In Afghanistan, it’s any of a half dozen other languages — including Pashtu, Dari, and Farsi.

No sooner did Obama realize his mistake — and correct himself — but he immediately made another.

"We need agricultural specialists in Afghanistan, people who can help them develop other crops than heroin poppies, because the drug trade in Afghanistan is what is driving and financing these terrorist networks. So we need agricultural specialists," he said.

So far, so good.

"But if we are sending them to Baghdad, they’re not in Afghanistan," Obama said.

Iraq has many problems, but encouraging farmers to grow food instead of opium poppies isn’t one of them. In Iraq, oil fields not poppy fields are a major source of U.S. technical assistance.

There are other infrastructure problems both countries share that U.S. advisors have struggled to address — a lack of safe roads, schools, adequate electricity, etc. — but Obama did not mention these.

Obama’s overall point may well be true: that U.S. efforts in Iraq have come at the expense of the battle against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Still it’s not asking too much to expect the man many say will soon be the Democratic nominee to cite the right facts to back up his thesis. …

DO NOT MISS THESE VERY RECENT ARTICLES HERE:

(1) “Is Barack Obama Mentally Fatigued?” — by LARRY JOHNSON

(2) [Citizen Alert Update] “My Name Is Barack, and I Am — Where, Who, What Did I Just Say?” — which included this update:

CITIZEN ALERT UPDATE: In the first comment below, WestPalm4Hillary noted, “Great, and THIS is the guy the Democrats want with control of ‘the button’.” Which reminded me of something we haven’t written about in a while — one of BO’s many (and they are countless) excuses for the votes he made, didn’t make, maybe made, or Planned Parenthood or the mob Chicago pols forced him to make, or was just “present” to make in the Illinois State Senate. Via the LA Times, January 8, 2008:

Obama said oops on 6 state Senate votes
     He pushed the wrong button, he asserted at the time. Two of the admitted flubs were on hotly contested issues.

Susan’s Note: You know, it’s one thing to go “oops” when you (yeah, right) push the wrong button in a state senate vote, but … in the White House?! God help us all! (And, um, dare I ask … what might have affected his brain so adversely??? Huh?)

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