Obama supporters are asking why their man had to go and open his mouth again. As ABC's Jake Tapper says, Obama is a "one-man gaffe machine," and this Memorial Day was no exception. At his Memorial Day speech in New Mexico, Obama said (along with other questionable statements),
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes--and I see many of them in the audience here today--our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.
What's wrong with this statement? Power Line's John Hinderaker says, "Memorial Day honors those who have died in our nation's military service. Is it possible that Obama does not know this? Sometimes the things that come out of his mouth defy understanding." That wasn't the only bad part of Obama's speech. As Hot Air's Ed Morrissey explains, "Obama decided to use his time to do a lot of self-promotion and criticize the Bush administration as his way of honoring the war dead. In politicizing the holiday, Obama portrayed veterans as victims of the current administration, and used the platform to promise all kinds of new spending, helpfully reminding his audience that we spend $10 billion a month in Iraq."
Bloggers agree that Obama has a gaffe problem. QandO's McQ says, "Of course all pols say things like this from time to time, but in Obama's case, these sorts of utterances seem to be increasing and only reinforcing the growing belief that he's not really ready for prime-time." And Hugh Hewitt concludes that "with his nomination assured and the most important job in the world on the line, the criticism-free zone in which Obama has long prospered simply cannot be sustained, and even MSM's many accommodations cannot camouflage the gaffe parade that is Team Obama from top to bottom."
Many bloggers concede that perhaps Obama does have special abilities. Michelle Malkin quips, "No wonder his supporters attribute Messiah-like powers to their candidate. He sees dead people." Sister Toldjah adds, "Methinks the O-man has watched The Sixth Sense one too many times, eh?" But, as The Corner's Kathryn Lopez concludes, "Perhaps it wasn't a gaffe. Maybe the messianic talk is getting the best of him."
