What’s my defense secretary’s name again?
During a speech on national security May 21, President Barack Obama called his defense secretary — the head of our national security aparatus — by the wrong name.
During the president’s preemptive strike against former Veep Dick Cheney’s address at the American Enterprise Institute today, he misread the name of the secretary of defense.
Let me just acknowledge the presence of some of my outstanding cabinet members and advisers we’ve got our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we have our CIA Director Leon Panetta, we have our Secretary of Defense William Gates.
It’s good to see that the president takes national security so seriously that he makes a point of remembering the names of the people running the national security aparatus.
From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama sees his secretary of defense just about every day, but he still flubbed Robert Gates’ name on Thursday.
Gates was in the crowd for Obama’s national security speech. Pointing him out, the president said “William Gates” was on hand. Perhaps Obama was thinking of Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire.
Let’s just imagine what the reaction would have been had then-President George W. Bush called Donald Rumsfeld by the wrong name in the days after Sept. 11 or during the run-up to the Iraq War.
Sources:
Associated Press, May 21, 2009
Which Gates? Obama flubs defense chief’s name
Michelle Malkin, May 21, 2009
