Obama has trouble quoting the Declaration of Independence.

Here's how its supposed to go:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Text of the Declaration of Independence

Here's the Obama version:

After President Obama says "created equal..", there is a long pause during which he scowls and blinks several times. For once, he may actually have opted to not read something that was on the teleprompter. It looks like he is disgusted and decided it would be better not to read what the preamble actually says.

American Thinker


But, I'm sure he just had something in his eye, right?

Or maybe whoever wrote the text on the teleprompter purposely left that part out, and he caught it, and was trying to remember the words that were missing, but didn't have enough time to recall them? Maybe the thoughts in his head while he was blinking were: "I can't believe this jackass just edited the Declaration of Independence. He's gonna have hell to pay!"

See how easy it is to spin?

reply to post by FortAnthem


Or maybe he believes

endowed by their Creator

doesn't fit their agenda..

Seems to me those at the WH think THEY have the right to give and take our rights,not the Creator.

Honestly... this is an example of US political madness which this forum is aptly entitled for. How many average US citizens would be able to cite those lines from the US constitution if they had to when they were giving it for a speech? I'd say that it's understandable to get it wrong if you haven't practiced the speech that many times. But that's my view anyhow.

reply to post by Frankidealist35

Honestly... this is an example of US political madness which this forum is aptly entitled for. How many average US citizens would be able to cite those lines from the US constitution if they had to when they were giving it for a speech? I'd say that it's understandable to get it wrong if you haven't practiced the speech that many times. But that's my view anyhow.

But how many average americans were supposed to have studied and taught the US Constitution??

He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago

www.usatoday.com...

I would have thought Obama would know it off by heart..

reply to post by CynicalM


It's actually pretty hard to quote the constitution. That's why I have a pocket with me when I want to refer to it. There are a lot of small details saying what each power each branch of government has so it's necessary to have it out to refer to when you need it. Obama should've just had a pocket constitution with the declaration of independence attached to it and then read it from there.

Yeah, he was a constitutional law professor so he should've known about it. But I've read the constitution a lot and I don't have all of it memorized. What it says is important but people study how it's interpreted a lot more. It's kind of pointless just to study and memorize the constitution without knowing what it actually means.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


You didn't teach Constitutional law at a University either.

For the President of the USA and a former former Constitution law professor to make a blunder such as this is more then a little embarrassing.

Originally posted by xiphias
Or maybe whoever wrote the text on the teleprompter purposely left that part out, and he caught it, and was trying to remember the words that were missing, but didn't have enough time to recall them? Maybe the thoughts in his head while he was blinking were: "I can't believe this jackass just edited the Declaration of Independence. He's gonna have hell to pay!"

If that is the case, I'd like to see the video of Obama whuppin the teleprompter guy's behind.

Heck, I'd pay money to see that.

I think we're expecting too much here, he can't remember how many states we have, what hospital he was born in, you know basic stuff....cut him a break, he's too busy campaigning.

reply to post by Frankidealist35

Honestly... this is an example of US political madness which this forum is aptly entitled for. How many average US citizens would be able to cite those lines from the US constitution if they had to when they were giving it for a speech?

That might fly except Obama is notorious for his use of the teleprompter. So either he read it and decided not to include that part in his speech or the teleprompter guy left it out, either accidentally or on purpose.

Either way, it makes the president look bad when he misquotes the Declaration and fuels conspiracy minded folks like us here with paranoia.

its not a mistake that someone who taught constitutional law would make but then agian the healthcare bill they passed wasnt either.

im sure this was on purpose.

Originally posted by xiphias
Or maybe whoever wrote the text on the teleprompter purposely left that part out, and he caught it, and was trying to remember the words that were missing, but didn't have enough time to recall them?

You're freaking kidding me, right?
If that aint an apologetic excuse, I don't know what is.

Why must he have to rely on the Teleprompter of the United States of America (TOTUS) in the first place to complete a freakin sentence?

This stuff should be second nature by now, don't cha think?

reply to post by FortAnthem


I actually agree, he should know this off by heart considering he's a constitutional lawyer. Though I would not be surprised if this is common in DC with politicians in general. Constitutional lawyer or not it is important that representitives know the declaration of independence and the constitution.

I am not an Obama supporter by any means..... That part of the video looks kinda suspect to me IMO. When and where was this speech? I would want to look at other versions of it before drawing conclusions.

The Video just looks really weird at that point, Almost like someone did a small loop of it.


Just watched the video from the CSPAN website, he does skip that part.......Interesting........

www.c-spanvideo.org...







White House Transcript of Speech

It's obvious by now what he thinks of dry runs.
He didn't think he needed to rehearse it, thought he would wing it instead and flopped.
Just another example that he is ill prepared, regardless of the situation.
Must have his mind on his next vacation.

reply to post by pavil


The American Thinker link has a more complete 30 minute version of the video if you want to put this vid into context.

Originally posted by Alxandro
You're freaking kidding me, right?
If that aint an apologetic excuse, I don't know what is.

Yes, I was kidding, actually.

My point was that it's pretty easy to spin any story towards (or away from) any agenda. This is second nature to America by now.

Teleprompter of the United States of America (TOTUS)

Differences aside, that made me smile.

reply to post by pavil


It was Wendsday at the Hispanic Caucus Institute awards cermony in Washington. I got that by just watching the clip. It was also covered by CSPAN, thats in the clip as well.

His speech, not this part, has been covered pretty well in the last few days. Aside from the blunder, he pretty much said the same thing at the Black Caucus. All he is trying to do is paint the Republicans as not carrying about blacks and hispanics so that they will vote for the Dems in November.

I'm beginning to wonder when he will actually start to be President and stop campaigning and taking vacations.

reply to post by CynicalM

Seems to me those at the WH think THEY have the right to give and take our rights,not the Creator.

Seems to me that the Constitution, not the Declaration OR any supernatural being is what established those rights. If they were established by a God wouldn't they be Universal? Why would man need to put something like the Constitution in place to preserve something given to us by a supernatural being? God didn't write the Constitution, man did.

As for Obama who knows why he left it out, maybe he, like many of us, sees how absurd it is in the 21st century to think that our rights came from some spooky invisible guy in the clouds.

It sounds to me like he was taking a dramatic pause, for whatever reason. Maybe it was not the intention to quote it word for word, in the proper sequence. Sounds to me more like a speech meant to cover specific points outlines in the constitution. This is a non-issue and maybe we are looking too hard to discredit the potus over something irrelevant.