Obama Flubs: George Washington Lived in the White House

Just before the Super Bowl kicked off this weekend, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie visited the White House kitchen for a few words with President Obama, only to discover that the football fan in chief is a little shaky on American history.

During the discussion with NBC, President Obama said that they are making beer in the White House kitchen.

Dressed in casual shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Obama told Guthrie, “We make beer. First president since George Washington to make some booze in the White House.”

The only problem is, as Greg Pollowitz noted, George Washington didn’t make any “booze” in the White House. In fact, not only was George Washington no longer president in the year 1800 when construction on the White House was finished, he had already been dead for a year. The first president to live in the People’s House was our second president, John Adams.

George Washington didn’t live in the White House, much less make any “booze” there.




Just making chit up as he goes [gonzo]

Two thoughts on this.

First, he's a politician and politicians tend to lie about everything. Since he was telling this to an NBC correspondent, he felt safe that he wouldn't be seriously challenged on anything he said.

Second (and being much more charitable than he deserves), he was trying to be a storyteller. The first rule of effective storytelling is, "never let the truth get in the way of a good tale."

Unfortunately for the Resident, he isn't likeable enough to get away with his fabrications, except with the low- and no-information segments of the public. (Those segments apparently include a lot of the Honorables on Capitol Hill; or perhaps they know the truth and just don't care as long as they stay in power.)

He should have spent more time studying Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm, and less reading Saul Alinsky. Bill Clinton wasn't really believed most of the time either, but at least he was charming enough that people gave him a pass as long as he didn't lie *too* outrageously. (And most of Clinton's biggest lies were about his personal life, where most people don't really want to look closely.)

Unlike her husband, Hillary is a very poor liar. She only gets a pass from her devoted followers because of her politics ... which they *think* they understand, but I suspect most of them really don't.

He's an idiot.

I can't disagree with this statement.

The World is falling apart and the President is making beer??
Shades of Nero as Rome burned ...

Unless some of us get to sample it we can't even be sure it's beer. It may taste like the stuff that sponsors professional sports.

You would "hope" that he'd at least know the history of the house he's occupied for 6 years. It's obvious this man just loves to hear himself talk.

He's an idiot.

Not to deflate anyone's outrage, but George Washington did make his own beer... At least according to a rudimentary google search. Perhaps Obama was trying to say that he was the first president to make beer while in the presidential house since Washington (and neglecting to note or remember that the presidential house changed location during the early history of the us)... Now, I don't know if that is true or not... Maybe Lincoln made beer.
But I'm sure the outrage over Obama's reference to George Washington being in the white house is a constructive use of our time.

At least he was right about Washington making his own beer (something I didn't know)... But hey, I'm a glass half full of beer kinda guy.

Maybe if the usurper spent less time golfing he'd learn something about the house he lives in and the history of the men who lived there. There are some great long term employees who worm there that know alot about the history.

Worm? That's a dance isn't it.

Obama's White House beer recipes are published. I have made one of the two recipes.

I had high hopes for it but it actually turned out rather on the flat side.

George Washington died from eating dinner in wet clothes... 😟

You must not have had his newest brew called "Executive Order ! It really bites you in the ass !

Many of the posters here would probably not have liked George Washington as President either. He used federal troops to put down the "Whiskey Rebellion," which was a violent protest against the federal tax on whiskey. He also owned many slaves and he "cheated" on Martha often. Nor was he a great General. He outsmarted the British even though many of his junior officers were either stupid or incompetent. At Yorktown, there were more French troops there than Colonials and it was the French Fleet that bottled up Cornwallis.
Obama's point was not about who lived in the White House but who made booze.

Don't get me wrong... He should know that as president right now he doesn't have any room for errors, that there are a lot of people ready to manufacture outrage over the silliest crap. He should have thought more carefully about his words and not said anything if he wasn't sure.

But it's a big yawn.

He can make errors. What are they gonna do......not re-elect him?!

Didn't he already do that "scoreboard!" Thing?

What he said was, He, likes he loves to refer to himself so much, was the first president to make booze in the White House.

It seems the "outrage", if you will, is not the act of making booze, even though booze is made from distilling, but the fact he said that Washington did it in the White House, when GW was dead before the WH was opened.

I would have to do some research, but I seriously doubt no president never had a facility on site way back then. Many presidents were well known to have their own distilleries.

That's really not the issue here. The funny thing is beating the subject to death defending his blunder. He said it, he was wrong, people made fun of him.

Let it go, victor. He was wrong. To continue to defend his flub makes you look silly.

Next story.

Please.

My outrage meter is at defcon 7

Dumbest thing to be upset about in a long time.

you should really mellow out a little... 😟