Former Constitutional Lawyer Makes Up Constitutional Quotes During SOTU Address (Updated)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, January 28, 2010, 8:43 PM
The former Constitutional lawyer, or senior lecturer, cited the US Constitution last night during his State of the Union Address. Unfortunately, the quote he cited was from the Declaration of Independence… not the Constitution.
The B-Cast posted the video:
Modern Conservative reported, via Free Republic:
In last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama said:
We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal….
Um, wrong founding document, Mr. President. It is in our Declaration of Independence that we read:
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.
And this is the same guy who lectured the Supreme Court moments later in the same speech.
UPDATE: American Thinker has more, including this:
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 51 Comments
TaSS commented:
Ok, someone really should have picked up that mistake.
manateespirit commented:
Can’t we file treason charges for incompetency? If he was in private business, he’d be out on his rear for not being able to competently run a business.
O is brilliant…right.
USMC Thomas commented:
You have to allow for affirmative action.
olm commented:
Good God, doesn’t he have speechwriters? This is uacceptable, really it is.
Who is either writing this crap or who is responsible for letting it go live? They would not last a day in the real world.
Maybe this is the perfect illustration of what is wrong here. They don’t just not know anything they don’t give a sh** if everyone knows it.
WestWright commented:
This qualifies for an A+ in harvard Am. History class.
pm commented:
Unbelievable. Really.
The man’s a total fraud.
Winston commented:
Obama is a dumb un-educated moron liberal
JenBee commented:
*snort*
oh yeah, he’s soooo intelligent.
sarainitaly commented:
Maddow made fun of someone not to long ago for doing the same thing… some senator was holding up his constitution, and she slammed him, while making her own mistake. I have to go find it.
Steve commented:
But…but the Constitution is a “Living, Breathing Document” and, as we all know, says what the Leftists He added those words and they are now in the Constitution. Why, we must be a bunch of stupid teabaggers to not know that.
sarcasm off.
sarainitaly commented:
It was John Boehner
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/06/maddow-wrongly-claims-constitution-doesnt-have-preamble
Do you think she will make fun of Obama?
mark commented:
bad teleprompter,bad
down with dems commented:
Excellent catch. No doubt his team of speechwriters wrote that, but he should really have caught it before going on live tv… you know, being a CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER. If he went to school to learn to be a Constitutional lawyer, and if he was employed to teach about it, would he not know the words by heart? Talk about a lack of trust… how are we supposed to trust that you’re competent to run a country if you can’t even quote our nation’s founding documents correctly in a prepared speech??? How are we supposed to trust you are who you say you are?
TheScribbler commented:
I remember hearing somewhere that Obama likes to write his own speeches. Of course, probably not THIS one, I’m sure some poor sap will be on the unemployment line tomorrow due to their incompetence. Ugh.
bg commented:
++
senior lecturer is one thing.. professor is another
Obama was NOT a Constitutional Law professor..
[The University of Chicago released a statement on Thursday saying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “served as a professor” in the law school—but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed on Friday.
“He did not hold the title of professor of law,” said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in
Law at the school, on East 60th St. in Chicago]
as for Annenberg, with their Ayers & Obama
connections, please, don’t make me laugh!!
oh, btw, Obama is also no longer a “lawyer” he surrendered his license back in 08 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application, and Michelle’s was suspended in 93, but alas, i digress..
==
Texmom commented:
Same with saying that foreigners could contribute to campaigns. He should know this is untrue if he is an expert on the Constitution.
Hmmm.
No one has actually ever seen any college grades, have they? Or any records at all, to speak of…
Hmmmm…
Even if he didn’t write it, you’d think he’d proof read a State of the Union speech for accuracy.
Dell commented:
It comes from the very same “Constitutional law professor” who took this opportunity to publicly chastise the United States Supreme Court, basing his argument on incorrect “facts” he suggests are in their recent ruling. If the man is as intelligent as we’re told, he most surely would have read the court’s decision, which would have prevented him from making such an embarrassing statement in the first place!
Justice Alito’s response, via lip-reading experts, of “that’s not true” will go down as one of the all-time great comments on “instant analysis”.
What we’re seeing and hearing, day after day, is the incompetence directly associated with the election of an On-The-Job-Training President of the United States.
Joanne commented:
Obama’s objective has been to ignore the U.S. Constitution as often as possible, so is it any wonder he doesn’t seem to even know what is in it.
Dell commented:
bg
January 28th, 2010 | 9:33 pm | #15
I’m well aware of the point(s) you made regarding whether or not Obama was a professor of law or not….I put that phrase in quotes because that’s what we were TOLD during the ’08 campaign. You are quite RIGHT!
bg commented:
++
didn’t he do that once or twice before??
[US News reports that in 2001 Barack Obama discussed the use of the United States Supreme Court as a vehicle that could be used to "spread the wealth." During the interview, Senator Obama stated that "the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth" and he also figured that it is entirely plausible to "come up with a rationale for bringing about economic change through the courts."]
between that (as well as many other things) and after what he said in
his SOTU address last night, i dare anyone to tell me he’s not out to take over the SC.. wake the heck up people, we can talk, blog & tea party all night long, but the fact still remains, no one is literally stopping him in the legislation department (and i’m not counting on part 2 of Kennedy/Dodd/Daschle Health Care Bill not being passed yet)..
==
Nobama commented:
Pathetic.
Dell commented:
…..And, ironically, guess who will undoubtedly make the next TWO appointments to the SCOTUS?? And probably within the next two years he will have appointed one-third of the Supreme Court – tipping the scales VERY heavily to the left.
thiacyn commented:
Is there any real documentation that this guy is a Constitutional lawyer? I thought they have no transcripts from any of the schools he came from, or am I wrong.
Chisum commented:
Sara in Italy,
Here you go.
Maddow Wrongly Claims ‘Constitution Doesn’t Have A Preamble’
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/06/maddow-wrongly-claims-constitution-doesnt-have-preamble#ixzz0dyH4ITCd
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/06/maddow-wrongly-claims-constitution-doesnt-have-preamble
bg commented:
++
thiacyn @ 10:06 pm #23
go read link @ post #15..
==
mmm commented:
great bumper sticker reads….Drop the teleprompter and step away from the White House
bg commented:
++
Chisum @ 10:10 pm #24
the video @ link was disabled..
here you go..
==
Chisum commented:
Thanks BG.
That Maddow is one scary shim.
bg commented:
++
Chisum @ 10:40 pm #28
you’re welcome..
btw, and albeit not the point, seems as if he was wrong too..
USC
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
DOI
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.
more @ link..
==
S. Wolf commented:
USMC Thomas
January 28th, 2010 | 8:50 pm | #3
You have to allow for affirmative action.
No, we don’t. It’s what put Zero in the WH.
“Obama’s election to the nation’s most powerful office is the direct outcome of racial reasoning. It was race that put him over the top against Hillary, in a thousand media endorsements, and finally, against John McCain, who was old, male and white. Three strikes against McCain, who for all his faults is vastly more experienced and knowledgeable than the Obamessiah.”
“The lesson of the Obama presidency is exactly the opposite of what our stuck-on-stupid media are telling us. It is that we must never, ever hire, promote, or elect somebody to a position of power and responsibility merely because of his race. Abraham Lincoln would not have been surprised. Neither would Martin Luther King, Jr.”
“The captain is drunk in the deckhouse, and the ship of state is heading for the rocks.
The Lesson of an Affirmative Action President
bg Thanks for the good links.
twolaneflash commented:
The Fraud-in-Chief is so used to making it up, phoning it in, and having nobody question it that he thinks he can do it in front of millions of people without being exposed. What worked on his typical white grandparents and all the places after won’t work after two years of being peeled and revealed by inquiring minds around the world.
Nahanni commented:
It should be fairly obvious to everyone with a firing synapse (whic leaves out most of Obamao’s brain dead worshipers) that Obamao has never read the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights.
No wonder Obamao sealed all of his personal records the first day he was in office. I am going to guess that a very large part of his resume/personal “history” is a total fabrication just by observing him.
bg commented:
++
S. Wolf @ 11:09 pm #30
you’re welcome..
re: [It’s what put Zero in the WH.]
don’t believe so..
another good link..
imo, if he’s not the “smoking gun”, he’s as close as we’re going to get to it..
bit more here, just keep scrolling down.. a couple
of YT links have been deleted, surprise, surprise..
i would also recommend Googling (Dr. Khalid al-Mansour / aka: Donald Warden) for more info, as he was also a co-founder of the Black Panthers, attended Howard University, as did Rev Wright (also an ex-muslim/black nationalist, albeit i don’t believe he’s an ex anything), and much more..
he also knew Obama in Hawaii, and in one of the deleted YT vids he stated he was the one who decided Obama would run as a “black man”.. and from another he wants Islam to rule the world, and he wants to rule Islam..
==
Dim Bulb commented:
Confusing the Declaration with the constitution wasn’t his only mistake in the quote. How exactly does “unalienable rights” become “a promise” and “notion”?
To be fair, “notion” can have a number of different meanings, but when coupled with “promise”…
bg commented:
++
S. Wolf @ 11:09 pm #30
ps re: #33
other than that.. having no solid info available, and being that’s a logical assumption, not to mention may be correct, i agree with you on the rest..
==
BruceC commented:
OT: Has anyone actually run the numbers on this Illinois high speed train thingy? By my calculation if it carries 1000 people a day they will have to charge $500 a ticket just to pay the interest on the total cost of the project (according to Illinois, $4B). Are there even 1000 customers a day who would want to make the trip at any price? Sheer insanity.
p.s. someone over at the Daily Caller just called it Scamtrak. heh.
Chicago Ray commented:
Thanks for using my photoshop there!
It’s one of my favorites and obviously Oblama’s favorite thing to do, butcher and burn our constitution day in and day out.
Pat the First commented:
He was wrong with assertion about the SCOTUS decision from last week. Alito was correct. B.O.’s statement was not true. It was a huge mistake. The decision does not allow what B.O. asserted.
You know . . . when I have an employee who never does a thorough job, they either correct their action or they are gone. B.O. makes these “mistakes” over and over again. No one calls him on it.
We have a bunch of imbeciles out there right now who think that the SCOTUS made the wrong decision. They will never know that B.O. was making a false assertion.
If a lie is repeated 3 times, it becomes the truth. That is the way the lefties work. B.O. is the worse at doing it.
iconoclast commented:
Maybe Zero was quoting from the Indonesian constitution. Or the state constitution of the other 7 states.
Anyway, what do you expect from someone who went through Columbia and Harvard as an affirmative action token? Not to mention the pass this malignant narcissist received from the MSM.
bg commented:
++
iconoclast @ 1:00 am #40
re: [Anyway, what do you expect from someone who went
through Columbia and Harvard as an affirmative action token?]
people have been saying that a lot lately, but i’ve
never seen the actual evidence of it, got a link??
check out links at bg #33..
thanks…
==
Chris Vehr commented:
He is arrogant and he’s a fake! Clear as day. Plain as the nose on my face.
Some people can’t see it because of his skin color. Some people can’t see it because he’s a democrat. Some people can’t see it because he favors abortion. Some people can’t see it because he wants to “redistribute the wealth”. Some people can’t see it because he appeases rather that stands his ground. Some people can’t see it because he’s not George W. Bush.
They’re all going to see it someday and then they’ll apologize for not seeing it and blame the rest of us for not convincing them. They’ll say there were no other options.
It will be too late.
They are fools!
Daniel commented:
I figured out why he is always looking upwards.
Some damn fool keeps telescoping those teleprompters way too high. (I’ll bet it’s him.)
Heck, if they were lower his head would likely roll off onto the floor and under a seat somewhere.
And another thing, now we know why he doesn’t want us to know his school grades. I’d say the proof is in the, in the, yeah. It’s him alright.
Lastly, “I hold this stooge to be self-evident.”
Militant Conservative commented:
Never insult a Judge with a lifetime appointment.
That particular judge will now be his lifetime political enemy. Rome is burning, there are some rats leaving but the Patriots are storming the castle.
powder is dry.
Agent 99 commented:
Good God!! Another Lie!! When BHO said something like ‘I’d rather be a good ONE term Prez than a ……? Two Prez’ So just today we learn RE: “One Term” via NY Post THIS http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/perpetual_campaign_yes_he_can_XOUCuZKDh0qMVWZd46YQaN “A PERPETUAL CAMPAIGN? YES HE CAN”
‘What frustrates the American people,” President Obama declared Wednes day, “is a Washington where every day is Election Day,” adding, “We can’t wage a perpetual campaign.”
It was a welcome call to end the partisanship that has gripped the political process — but a prescription rendered utterly meaningless when, just minutes after finishing the speech, Obama’s permanent-campaign organization dispatched a mass e-mail soliciting, yes, campaign funds.
“I just finished delivering my State of the Union address,” was the personal presidential message distributed by Organizing for America. “I set out an urgent plan for restoring economic security for struggling middle-class families.”
AP
Barack Obama What were the president and his perpetual-campaign team asking? “Help fuel our fight for the middle class with a monthly donation of $15 or more.”
About what you’d expect in a Washington where every day is Election Day.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/perpetual_campaign_yes_he_can_XOUCuZKDh0qMVWZd46YQaN#ixzz0e0FRQ9Rn
Redwine commented:
Oh, please… The reason all of Dear Leader Hussein’s records are hidden is because he has no degrees. He never matriculated at Columbia or Harvard Law. He barely made C’s at Occidental, where he spent most of his time stoned. He never passed the Bar exam. He has no understanding of Constitutional law and has probably never read the Constitution. His mistaken attribution to the Constitution is not his first.
B Hussein O is a fake, a phony, a fraud, a grifter.
He needs to be impeached. Soon.
Hedgehog commented:
Poseur!
Snotty McLefty commented:
HaHaHa!
That Sarah Palin sure is teh stoopid !
Oh….uhmmm….uhhh……
Look!…. a bunny!!
(zoom…….)
Zachriel commented:
Obama: We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we’re all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it, if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else.
Truncating the sentence changed the context. He’s referring to the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Always On Watch commented:
Interesting that Pelosi isn’t smiling in the background on this one. Did she notice the mistake? Could be.
Bobbi commented:
The Supreme Court probably now wishes they had taken up one of the “birther” cases. As a matter of fact, we now have 9 damaged Justices who have been affected by the fraud in the White House, which gives them all “standing”. He has just besmirched their integrity and judgment.
No Man commented:
He couldn’t help it.
It’s not his fault!
I blame Boooosh!
He, Michele, and 88% (no man’s survey) of blacks in high places are products of public schools and affirmative action in college admissions, hiring and promotions; and are marginally qualified for their jobs.
Greg commented:
Obama is a totally empty suit that invests none of his personnel life in understanding the topics he is lecturing on. The manchurian canidate policies esposed are really written by career college libs that never worked a day in their lives.
KansasGirl commented:
We can all regale about zero being incompetent, but to me he is a dangerous and evil person. We have three more years of this BS folks.
avery commented:
Those other 7 states are getting all those jobs and money.
StewartIII commented:
Hot Air: Obamateurism of the Day
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/29/obamateurism-of-the-day-199/
bg commented:
++
StewartIII @ 10:53 am #61
DOI
[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.]
more @ link..
USC
==
nelli commented:
Obviously someone got fired for letting the Pres. look like a bumbling fool instead of a Constitutional scholar. Who was it?
A.W. commented:
Now, look, i am not a fan of obama, but i think this counts as excusable embellishment. Our constitution does state that we are entitled to the equal protection of the laws. it is perfectly reasonable to say that the equal protection clause codifies what was stated in the declaration. So his statement is not utterly untrue.
Of course everything he said about citizens united was untrue. go to my site and you can see me talk about what the case was really about. and tonight i plan to fisk the SOTU.
Bruce in Kansas commented:
Mistakenly attributing the description of our inalienable rights to the US Constitution instead of the Declaration of Independence is thin soup.
What I found disturbing is the President’s next thought, apparently interpreting what “being created equal” means; that if you abide by our laws, you will be protected by our laws, and if you adhere to our common values, you should be treated like everyone else. Implicit in this is the idea that if do NOT abide by our laws or share our values, then you will NOT be protected or treated like everyone else.
This implication is the antithesis of what “inalienable rights” means. We have these rights because we are human beings, not because we obey this country’s laws or share this country’s values. That recognition of the universality of these rights is exactly the distinction Jefferson was making in the Declaration. The President’s words seem to imply the opposite.
Our Declaration and Constitution do not give us these rights – we have them by simply being human. The Declaration and Constitution merely recognize them. Thank God they do.
I fear the President might not “get” the whole point made by our Declaration of Independence in recognizing these inalienable rights. Not only that, I’m concerned he may believe the exact opposite – rights conditional on obeying our law and sharing our values.
Treefriend commented:
Haven’t you idiots heard of the 14th amendment? No? Well don’t blame the President for your ignorance. He expects Americans to be smarter and better educated than they are. He expects you to know The Constitution.
dallasdan commented:
BO is the poster child for all that is absurdly wrong with Affirmative Action.
gus commented:
Thin Soup? An imbecile who hung his hat on teaching Constitutional law, confuses an opinion written in the declaration from the Constutution that is the law of the land.
Sounds like Chunky Soup to me.
bg commented:
++
dallasdan @ 4:14 pm #67
Obama’s Harvard Sponsor
gus @ 4:32 pm #68
Obama: part time Lecturer (92-96); Senior Lecturer (96-04)
==
rene commented:
Isn’t there anything to do that would be better than spending your time online? like reading sensible books? or donating your time for charity work?
oh are you out of work, outsourced your own jobs huh?
The word constitution has more than one meaning -re dictionary.com, did any of you see the actual speech that The President stated, or did the news media misunderstand the word constitution as stated and replaced the first letter “c” with a capital.
dictionary.com
The act or process of composing, setting up, or establishing.
The composition or structure of something; makeup.
The physical makeup of a person: Having a strong constitution, she had no trouble climbing the mountain.
The system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution.
The document in which such a system is recorded.
Constitution The fundamental law of the United States, framed in 1787, ratified in 1789, and variously amended since then.
The system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution.
The document in which such a system is recorded.
Constitution The fundamental law of the United States, framed in 1787, ratified in 1789, and variously amended since then.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the E
Oh I know all republikrats are perfect!
Obama is Correct!! commented:
This highlights that the Mark Levin Show is a joke, and anyone who takes heed from them should be snickered at.
The Constitution clearly defines the “equal” rights. The Declaration of Independence does not define what a “man” or “citizen” is. That why Obama is “more” correct by citing the Constitution aka Bill of Rights. If we still lived under the guise of the Declaration of Independences there would be no equal rights, voting, and slavery would still exist. Here are pieces of the Constitution to clarify my point:
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
Cosmo Stallone commented:
Saying a quote comes from the
Constitution sounds more impressing
than The Deceleration of Independence.
He really thinks the American people
are stupid. Mr. President, we are not
stupid, We also read:
Rules for Radicals!
bg commented:
++
Obama is Correct!! @ 10:28 am #71
gee, i wonder why Obama didn’t state: The Bill of Rights (seeing
as how he’s supposedly so articulate & well versed on the topic)..
hmmm.. perhaps because he applies
his own “notions” to the Constitution..
[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.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.]
although it’s clear to me why he might
never wish to cite the DOI directly..
==
randy commented:
Obama appears to know more about the Constitution the the self-proclaimed constitutionalists.
If you read the entire quote it is obvious to anyone with a passable level of literacy that he was referring tothe 14th and the Equal Protection Clause, considered the enshrinement of “created equal”
“Abroad, America’s greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we’re all created equal; that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else.”
Don’t let the facts hit you in the butt on the way out.