presidents * aren't * perfect

4/20/09

How Old Were You?

Major Garrett, senior White House correspondent for Fox News, caught President Barack Obama in a small but noteworthy slip up yesterday. During his speech at the summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain, Obama took a swipe at those blaming the United States for attempting to topple Castro's Cuban government in 1961: "To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all heard these arguments before."

But as Garrett notes, "Actually, the president misspoke on the sequence of events in Cuba. The invasion of CIA-trained rebels at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba occurred in April 1961. Obama was born August 4, 1961."

Here's a handy guide showing Obama's age during other moments in history:

  • Cuban Missile Crisis: 1
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution approved by Congress: 3
  • Israeli-Arab Six Day War: 5
  • Martin Luther King Jr. assassination: 6
  • Man first steps on Moon: 7
  • Woodstock Festival: 8
  • Nixon visits China: 10


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Yep, I'm getting to be an expert on presidential blunders. Hell, I wrote a book about one of the biggest. If you want to nominate one, or if you want to yell at me, send email to prezblog@gmail.com.