Insert obligatory “if this was Bush or Reagan, this gaffe would be in 24 hour rotation on CNN, Headline News, and MSNBC” reminder here:
Barack Obama at Thursday’s G8 summit three times called British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne “Jeffrey.”
According to London’s Financial Times, the President eventually apologized and said that he was confusing him with “his favorite R&B singer” Jeffrey Osborne:
George Osborne was the victim of an unlikely case of mistaken identity at this week’s G8 summit, after US President Barack Obama confused the chancellor with a black soul singer.
The chancellor’s attempts to explain the complexities of tax avoidance to G8 leaders were thrown off course when Mr Obama interjected on three occasions to indicate that he agreed fully with “Jeffrey”.
Mr Osborne battled on in spite of the US president having apparently forgotten his name. It was only after his presentation that Mr Obama realised his mistake and apologised.
Mr Obama explained that he knew who Mr Osborne was, adding: “I’m sorry, man. I must have confused you with my favourite R&B singer.”
Perhaps there’s a Freudian slip aspect to Mr. Obama’s confusion. As Ace writes, as the Obama administration is engulfed in scandal after scandal, the whole purpose of his European tour is to get back a little of that World’s Biggest Celebrity mojo that Obama had in abundance as a candidate in 2008:
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But then, like Spinal Tap, compared to 2008, Obama’s overseas crowds are becoming increasingly “selective:”
Jon Stewart’s Mini-Me on the Daily Show has taken to mocking Mr. Obama as “the NBC of Presidents” in reference to his shrinking fan base, Christian Toto writes at Big Hollywood:
This week, fill-in anchor John Oliver torched Obama’s visit to Germany, daring to compare the president to a flailing, failing broadcast network.
Oliver noted the dramatic drop in crowd size from the president’s 2008 address in Germany to his June 19 speech. Even the liberal comedy show couldn’t hide this decline.
“Losing 95 percent of your audience in just five years, that basically makes Obama the NBC of presidents.”
And while the offices of NBC and its subsidiary networks are Obama’s true home base, even Chris Matthews slagged Obama’s Berlin speech this week, finally noticing what the right has been aware of for five and a half years, that when the TOTUS is on the fritz, Mr. Obama is very frequently off his game.
Finally, this is fun: “TWICE AS MANY Turn Out at DC Tea Party Rally Than Go See Obama in Berlin.” The photos make for quite a comparison.
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