Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
At a campaign stop in Largo, Maryland yesterday, President Obama delivered a set of remarks in which he attempted to exculpate himself from skyrocketing fuel prices. And embedded within his speech was a typically partisan attack on Republicans (bolded below), which received special attention on the Drudge Report.
Lately, we’ve heard a lot of professional politicians, a lot of the folks who are running for a certain office -- (laughter) -- who shall go unnamed -- (laughter) -- they've been talking down new sources of energy. They dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power. They make jokes about biofuels. They were against raising fuel standards. I guess they like gas-guzzlers. They think that's good for our future. We’re trying to move towards the future; they want to be stuck in the past.
We’ve heard this kind of thinking before. 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. (Laughter.) They would not have believed that the world was round....
There have always been folks like that. 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. One of my predecessors, Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone, "It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?" (Laughter.) That's why he's not on Mt. Rushmore -- (laughter and applause) -- because he’s looking backwards. He’s not looking forwards. (Applause.) He’s explaining why we can't do something, instead of why we can do something.
No Obama speech is complete without a derisive partisan attack, but neither is it complete without a hallmark inaccuracy or two. In this case, the President got his facts about our nineteenth President all wrong, and has earned himself a four Pinocchios rating at the WaPo's Fact Checker blog. Glenn Kessler explains:
According to Ari Hoogenboom, who wrote the definite biography, “Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President,” Hayes entertained Thomas A. Edison at the White House. Edison demonstrated the phonograph for the president. “He was hardly hostile to new inventions,” Higgenboom said.
Moreover, documentation from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center shows that President Hayes first tried out the telephone in June of 1877, when Alexander Graham Bell arranged for a demonstration. Hayes was so astounded by the telephone that he installed the very first White House telephone just four months later. Kessler writes that "a list of telephone subscribers published in the article 'The Telephones Comes to Washington,' by Richard T. Loomis, shows that the White House was given the number '1,'" indicating that the White House telephone was probably the first in the nation's capital.
Kessler concludes:
Obama mocked Hayes for “looking backwards...not looking forwards.” In reality, Hayes embraced the new technology. He should be an Obama hero, not a skunk.
Hayes is dead and buried, but he deserves an apology.
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Sep '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Mark Wilson: So what can we say about the green movement based on the President's lame analogy?
That it's mostly lost at sea?
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
I am willing to bet money that Rutherford B. Hayes would not have used the word "folks" that many times in one breath.
Folks. It's like we're not even people to him.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Maura Pennington: I am willing to bet money that Rutherford B. Hayes would not have used the word "folks" that many times in one breath.
Folks. It's like we're not even peopleto him. · 1 minute ago
At least he didn't say "enemies".
Apr '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
I seem to remember reading that the pre-B.C. Greeks calculated the size of the spherical Earth with a fair degree of precision, something on the order of 20,000 miles in circumference.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
When I heard clips from this speech, BHO sounded particularly inarticulate and stuttering; it was as if he was making it up as he went along, giving this talk off the top of his head-- and we've all pretty much concluded where his head was (and is). Was this the Teleprompter Unplugged speech? Are his speech writers on vacation? Only a young, gullible, adoring community college audience could be anything but appalled.
Oct '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Mar '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
He may run like Mays but he hits like a CoC violation.
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
David said: "Thomas Edison, who had invested heavily in DC electrical technologies, favored the use of DC exclusively for electrical distribution, which would have required electricity users to be within a few miles of power stations. "
Invested is a kind word: he was selling power stations, IIRC.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Glenn the Iconoclast
I seem to remember reading that the pre-B.C. Greeks calculated the size of the spherical Earth with a fair degree of precision, something on the order of 20,000 miles in circumference. · 1 hour ago
Wikipedia says it was Eratosthenes. Also mentioned is an Indian astronomer who estimated it at 39,968 km, only0.3% error. As a side note, the meter was originally defined so the circumference of the Earth would be exactly 40,000 km.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Why am I not the least bit surprised that a post about Rutherford B Hayes has attracted multiple comments from Lileks?
Jul '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Never mind Hayes. Obama owes me an apology.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
I'm just wondering, did Hayes say what Obama attributed to him? just wondering if the quote is accurate?
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Indeed, as David Williamson adroitly stated, the problem is truly one of energy density. Barring an extraordinary miracle, we will never see a battery-powered 737. I commend to you the work of physicist Robert Laughlin: he had a wonderful discussion about energy density and carbon-based energy at the Econtalk podcast (econtalk.org).We don't have a Luddite-in-chief; we have a naked emperor surrounded by equally naked advisors!
Apr '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Getting back to Dear Leader, did anyone else notice the odd way he pronounced Rutherford? Rootherford. Really? Really. At least he did not say Mount Rooshmore.
May '10
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
How fascinating it would be to be a fly on the wall in the POTUS Lounge in the hereafter. It would be delicious to watch Obama be shunned by his fellow presidents (from both parties, I suspect) for being such a classless jerk.
Jun '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Yeah, he's more of an Economics guy.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
Mark Wilson
Glenn the Iconoclast
I seem to remember reading that the pre-B.C. Greeks calculated the size of the spherical Earth with a fair degree of precision, something on the order of 20,000 miles in circumference.
Wikipedia says it was Eratosthenes. Also mentioned is an Indian astronomer who estimated it at 39,968 km, only0.3% error. As a side note, the meter was originally defined so the circumference of the Earth would be exactly 40,000 km.
Good man! I can't often be bothered with checking up on things I vaguely remember reading years ago.
And good on Wikipedia too! While I would never cite it as an authoritative source, I find it very useful for an overview of topics.
(full disclosure: I was an editor at Wikipedia for a couple years on a couple topics)
Re: Obama Owes Rutherford B. Hayes an Apology
No. On the WaPo factcheck piece, there's a pretty thorough account of how the day in June, 1877 went. According to the account, Hayes seemed enthralled with the telephone, smiling as he spoke to Alexander Graham Bell. He remarked twice, "That is wonderful."