Yes, like a better known 45 year-old man from Illinois, I get tired from time to time. But I'm not running for president, and while at times I make verbal miscues, I know the difference between 12 and 10,000. I can't see myself making such whopper of a mistake in a speech, especially since I don't have an army of speechwriters and coatholders traveling behind me--or ahead of me. Obama has an advance team scouting the landscape for him as he hunts for votes.
As most people who follow politics are aware, in a speech given in Richmond last night, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) had this to say about the tragic tornado demolished the western Kansas town of Greensburg last week:
In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.
I don't think anyone missed it, and while yes, short of a grain elevator, the entire Plains town was destroyed--miraculously just 12 people lost their lives in Greensburg.
Obama added this at the end of his speech, after he realized his error.
There are going to be times when I get tired. There are going to be times when I get weary. There are going to be times when I make mistakes.
Especially if he becomes president.
What do these events have in common?
North Korea's seizure of the USS Pueblo
The August coup against Gorbachev
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
The Beirut barracks bombing
The 2005 Asian tsunami
The seizure of the US embassy by Iranian "students"
The helicopter crash that ended the 1980 hostage rescue operation in Iran
The beginning of the Hezbollah-Israel war
Those events occurred while the commander-in-chief at the time was sleeping, or getting ready to retire for the night. And these are just a few of the incidents that have occurred in the last forty years where the president's late evening or sleeping time was disrupted.
So when Lyndon Johnson was awakened in 1968 for the delivery of the news that the North Korean Navy seized the USS Pueblo, you can bet LBJ was tired. He probably didn't have too many restful nights in that tumultuous year.
Thirty-nine years later, Obamas said something boneheaded because he was "tired."
If Obama sworn in as Bush's successor in 2009, he's going to be tired a lot. I hope that doesn't effect his ability to make wise decisions during times of crisis.
Meanwhile, this 45 year-old is a little tired, so I'm taking a short break after this post.
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