Poland's president, Bronislaw Komorowski, is outraged over President Obama's latest gaffe.
America's commander-in-chief was at a ceremony honoring the memory of Jan Karski, the Polish hero who fought the Nazis as part of the underground resistance during World War II.
During the tribute, Obama referred to German concentration camps as "Polish Death Camps."
Poland opposed the Nazis.
They abhorred the atrocities perpetrated by Hitler's minions at places like Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Treblinka.
Modern Poland remembers.
And it has publicly decried Obama as misleading the world into thinking Polish nationals operated these camps.
Jay Carney, presidential spokesman, says that our president "misspoke".
Obama meant to refer to "German death camps in Nazi occupied Poland".
I'm no fan of the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but the Polish government should back off.
Smart people often make mistakes when speaking off the cuff.
Obama is allowed to be human.
You try speaking to over 500 audiences in a year.
You're bound to say something dumb.
Everyone does.
Who can forget Obama campaigning in Oregon in 2008?
Announced the community organizer, "I've visited 57 states and tomorrow it will make 58."
Gerald Ford handed the presidency to Jimmy Carter with a classic goof during the 1976 debates.
Ford proclaimed that Eastern Europe was free from Russian domination just as the Russian Bear was squashing human rights in Hungary and East Germany.
Carter pounced on this idiotic misstatement.
Virtually comical was Vice-president Joe Biden in 2008 at a political rally.
From the podium he asked State Senator Chuck Graham to stand up and take a bow.
Graham's wheelchair told everyone that standing was not on his "to do" list, despite orders from the Veep.
George Herbert Walker Bush once referred to September 7 as Pearl Harbor day.
Like I said, it can happen to anybody.
Just a few days ago, Kathie Lee, the former Carnival Cruise pitch lady, committed a humdinger live on the Today show.
Interviewing Martin Short about his new movie, she asked Martin about his wife Nancie.
Lee said Nancie was a great wife.
Lee said Short and his wife were the perfect couple.
Lee said the laughter and joy of their marriage was obvious for all to see.
She finally formed a question.
Martin, just what makes Nancie love you so much?
Martin murmured that Nancie loved him because he was cute.
One problem.
Nancie Short died two years ago from ovarian cancer.
Kathie Lee, I can name that tune in one note: scrambled egg facial.
Bad mistake.
I once asked a lady when she was due.
She wasn't.
She had put on a few pounds, not unlike me.
Only she had to face a dope like me who didn't have the smarts to consider that maybe she wasn't expecting.
Insensitive.
And human.
Oppose Obama because of his policies if you wish but cut him some slack when he makes the occasional bad choice of words.
He's human.
Just like me.
And just like you.
Have a gaffe-free day.
Like you, I'm not an Obama fan, and I do feel that people often blow mistakes out of proportion.
ReplyDeleteHowever I question why you say that the president was "speaking off the cuff." He was not. He was speaking from a prepared speech which he appears to have been reading from his teleprompters. Just to be sure I checked it out on Youtube.
Since the speech had to be prepared by Obama's staff, I would say that his writers were ignorant in what they wrote. Their ignorance and President Obama's failure to catch that ignorance are human traits that caused justifiable concern in my opinion.
I don't believe that the Polish government should have backed off. Their reaction to the mistake will help educate people. Slips like the one in the president's speech can proliferate misinformation.
The President apologized for the mistake. And he should have. Hopefully his writers will be more careful, but then, they're only human.