Obama Mangles History To Defend His Poor Record

IBD Editorials ^ | March 16, 2012 | MARK STEYN

[Kaslin]

Our lesson for today comes from George and Ira Gershwin:

"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus/When he said the world was round/They all laughed when Edison recorded sound/They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother/When they said that man could fly/They told Marconi wireless was a phony ..."

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sang it in the 1937 film "Shall We Dance?" Seventy-five years on, the president revived it to tap-dance around his rising gas prices and falling approval numbers.

Delivering his big speech on energy at Prince George's Community College, he insisted the American economy will be going gangbusters again just as soon as we start running it on algae and windmills.

He noted that, as with Wilbur and his brother, there were those inclined to titter: "Let me tell you something. If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail — (Laughter) — they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society. Llaughter.) They would not have believed that the world was round. (Applause.)

We've heard these folks in the past. They probably would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who said, 'Television won't last. It's a flash in the pan.' (Laughter.) One of Henry Ford's advisers was quoted as saying, 'The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a fad.' (Laughter.)"

The crowd loved it. But President Algy Solyndra wasn't done:

"There always have been folks who are the naysayers and don't believe in the future, and don't believe in trying to do things differently.

[Elsie]

“I consider bunco steering more honorable than the life led by the average politician.”

[Ezekiel]

If only they were merely ignorant. They want to be deluded. They are content to be lied to because they speak and understand the same language (lies) as the charlatan.

The truth won’t awaken them or make them angry. What makes them angry are the infernal pests who keep trying to disturb their sleep.

Best to just let them snooze on the train tracks and hope Darwin can keep up. :-/

[Ditto]

With instruments then available it would have been easy to estimate that sailing west from Spain to China would require a voyage of over 10,000 miles. Far beyond the range of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria without resupply. Therefore if Columbus had been correct in his assumption that there was no land west of Spain until you got to China, he would never have been able to make the voyage. In that light it’s easy to see why the crew thought Columbus was nuts - he was.

Not necessarily so. At that time, they did not know exactly where China was when it came to longitude. It was not until the 18th century and the invention of the Marine Chronometer that sailors could tell how far east or west they were.

Columbus did not underestimate the size of the Earth. He mis estimated how far west China was from Europe.

[Bob Ireland]

***young skulls of mush in the audience***

Lenin called them 'useful idiots'. They will be pawns in the on-going overthrow of the Constitution.

I would like to call Obama the pied-piper leading the children to their own destruction... but I am more attracted to the identity of the Gallic god Ogmios, sometimes equated with Hercules, but I associate him with Hermes, master of enticing speech.

Here you see a painting by Albrecht Drürer of the golden-lipped orator with chains attached to his tongue running to the ears of his followers, dragging them along.

Nostradamus actually mentions Ogmios, possibly in connection with the end-times of this age.

[MinuteGal]

"HE GOES INTO SINGSONG WHEN HE SHOULD BE GOING INTO SING SING"

I hereby bestow upon your comment THE POST OF THE MONTH AWARD!!!

Magnifique!

Leni

[Kickass Conservative]

Republicans HOPE people are smart, but Democrats KNOW people are stupid.

[Safetgiver]

He noted that, as with Wilbur and his brother, there were those inclined to titter:... (Laughter) —
We’ve heard these folks in the past. They probably would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who said, ‘Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.’ (Laughter.) One of Henry Ford’s advisers was quoted as saying, ‘The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a fad.’ (Laughter.)” .....Laugh all you want dumb shiites. Every example you gave was private investment, private money and private initiative. If the government was going to pick winners and losers, we’d still be picking up horseshit from the streets and working in buggy whip factories. Solyndra? “ Let’s start a non-company, get some dumb ass to finance us and bail out! We’ll be rich!”

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Columbus did not underestimate the size of the Earth. He mis estimated how far west China was from Europe.

That certainly makes sense, considering how difficult the "longitude problem” famously then was.

I don’t suppose there’s any link that could confirm that?

[Elsie]

Columbus did not underestimate the size of the Earth. He mis estimated how far west China was from Europe. That certainly makes sense, considering how difficult the "longitude problem” famously then was.

Actually, the clock was extremely useful when the STARs and Planets were not visible.

Once the timing of the Moons of Saturn/Jupiter were well know, and printed in an almanac; then any old 'clock' could be reset to a fairly accurate time.

---

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Longitude1.html

[MinuteGal]

I love the mythological analogies to Obama you posit in your wonderful post.

Obama...."the Pied Piper leading the children to their own destruction"

Obama...."Hermes, the master of enticing speech"

Obama....."the golden-lipped orator with chains attached to his tongue running to the ears of his followers, dragging them along" (illustrated!)

I would be afraid, very afraid to attend a speech given by Obama...checking my ears every few minutes......oh, my......

As usual, another great post, Bob.

Leni

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Actually, the clock was extremely useful when the STARs and Planets were not visible.

Longitude and the Académie Royale

That link is exceedingly interesting. But it doesn’t indicate that anyone can navigate using a clock alone, without reference to celestial observation.

Once the timing of the Moons of Saturn/Jupiter were well know, and printed in an almanac; then any old 'clock' could be reset to a fairly accurate time.

Back then, “any old clock” was pretty worthless for keeping time on board a ship at sea. They were all pendulum clocks, and it turned out that gravity was enough of a variable with location that you just couldn’t “set your watch” by a pendulum clock at sea.

[Rummyfan]

But obviously Hayes isn't as "forward-looking" as a 21st century president who believes in Jimmy Carter malaise, 1970s Eurostatist industrial policy, 1940s British health care reforms, 1930s New Deal-sized entitlements premised on mid-20th century birth rates and life expectancy, and all paid for by a budget with more zeroes than anybody's seen since the Weimar Republic.

[Elsie]

But it doesn’t indicate that anyone can navigate using a clock alone, without reference to celestial observation.

Of course; one CANNOT navigate ANYWHERE without some 'reference' to SOMETHING.

---

They were all pendulum clocks, and it turned out that gravity was enough of a variable with location that you just couldn’t “set your watch” by a pendulum clock at sea.

Uh; not the 'gravity', but the fact that the clock had nothing stable to sit upon.

[Elsie]

Fun extra point puzzle.

A penguin is sitting on the South Pole.

If he (she?) walks one mile North,
then turns left and walks one mile West,
then turns left again and walks one mile South;
how far away will it be from the South pole?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

One mile. Due north, of course . . .

[Elsie]

Ooops!

try again....

[MrB]

South pole, dead on, 0.

[MrB]

Wait a minute!

Was this an African or European penguin?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

turns left and walks one mile West,

One mile. Due north, of course . . .

Ooops, you got me good - I made two errors - one in drawing a rectangular grid and coming back to the unit circle, and the prior mistake of proceeding in a straight line when “one mile west" is a circular arc of one radian on the unit circle.

Revised answer: the defined path takes you one mile away from the pole, one mile on the unit circle, and one mile back exactly to the pole. Final answer: zero (but no matter, the direction of that distance, zero tho it be, is still north).

Lots of “gotchas” in there, and I fell for most of them!

[Elsie]

I had to have been African; as the European ones are all extinct south of the Urals.