Obama says the strangest things…

We’re still busy in the yard, so blogging will be light, and I know everyone else in the world is writing about McClellen’s book (what a lovely distraction to all the good news coming out of Iraq, ain’t it?) so I don’t have to.

But glancing through the news I did see one thing I thought was kind of weird, about Barack Obama and a remark he made. The article is mostly about how Obama is losing popularity in the states he’s won, and it’s worth reading, but this was the weird part:

Speaking to kids after they made classroom presentations on what they’d learned over the last year at the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton, Obama both praised and critiqued them.

Theodore Rodriguez, 13, got high marks for his warm personality but was advised to look at his audience more and finish his thought before moving on.

“You got a little nervous. It’s understandable. It’s not every day you have to speak in front of the national press,” said Obama, who was accompanied at the school by a large number of reporters and camera crews. “This is really hard to do, by the way,” Obama added. “Not only could I not have done it in eighth grade, I probably couldn’t have done it just before I ran for president.” [Emphasis mine – admin]

What? “I probably couldn’t have done it just before I ran for president…”

Okay, it’s nothing. But it’s weird. It sounds like he suddenly, just before he ran for president, was given magic powers, or something. It was hard…but then…it was easy! Ta-dah! He couldn’t…but then…he could! Ta-dah! Destiny, or whatever, stepped in just before he ran for president and made it easy for him to talk to the national press!

My point, I guess, is that the guy is no more fluid or perfect in his language than Dubya ever was, but one double-ivy-league grad who is at least bi-lingually clumsy and flew fighter jets is perpetually derided as a moron. The other makes an instantly-forgiven gaffe every day – if he speaks a second language we don’t know it, and he’s “brilliant.”

But what am I thinking? In the world of Ivy-league grads, the democrat ones – only the democrat ones – are always the smartest people on earth.

Daniel Henninger says Obama’s gonna be expensive. I think we know that.

I’m going back out into the garden. Wanna cleanse the palate and clear the head? Click here.