If he can’t recall the current unemployment rate, it certainly doesn’t make it look as though Obama is paying much attention to it.

Obamateurism of the Day

posted at 8:05 am on September 13, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

When Presidents hold press conferences to talk about a specific subject, usually people expect him to get briefed on the latest numbers. As The Hill reports, however, Barack Obama and this White House managed to miss the most important number of all. When talking about unemployment, Obama used the wrong figure:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a report issued last Friday, estimated that the unemployment rate through the end of August was 9.6 percent, an uptick from the previous two months, when the rate stood at 9.5 percent.

“We’re in a political season where every candidate out there has their own district, their own makeup, their own plan, their own message,” Obama said. “You know, in an environment where we’ve still got 9.5 percent unemployment, you know, people are going to make the best argument they can right now.”

The entire point of holding the press conference was to show Obama engaged on the jobless situation.  If he can’t recall the current unemployment rate, it certainly doesn’t make it look as though Obama is paying much attention to it.