#rsrh “Profiles in Hubris.”

Oh, God, this administration makes my head hurt.

I personally think that this article discussing Obama’s strange and rather preemptive attempts to inspire presidential historians (via a personal touch) should have been titled that, and largely because of this:

Mr. Obama told the historians that he had come up with a slogan for his administration. “I’m thinking of calling it ‘A New Foundation,’ ” he said.

Doris Kearns Goodwin suggested that “A New Foundation” might not be the wisest choice for a motto.

“Why not?” the president asked.

“It sounds,” said Goodwin, “like a woman’s girdle.”

…True. More importantly: does anybody in the White House know what the name ‘al-Qaeda’ translates as? Hold on: let me call up the Executive Branch’s default source for basic information.

The name comes from the Arabic noun qā’idah, which means foundation or basis, and can also refer to a military base. The initial al- is the Arabic definite article the, hence the base.

Bolding mine.  So, yeah, good save there, Professor Goodwin.  Seriously, that crack probably saved us from yet another diplomatic disaster from this administration.

Moe Lane