Wishful Thinking: Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Refers to POTUS as 'President Obama'

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
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Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tripped up her words Thursday during a briefing, apparently forgetting that Joe Biden is president. Instead, she referred to the Commander in Chief as “President Obama.” Was it wishful thinking on her part—a Freudian slip?

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“So today, as you all saw just an hour or so ago, President Obama announced that—Pardon me, President Biden!” Jean-Pierre said as uncomfortable laughter filled the room. “Whoa! Ahem, that is news. I know, we’re going back not forwards. We’ve gotta go forwards.”

Now I’m not going to make too much of this, because it was a slip of the tongue and these things happen. That being said, it’s pretty funny.

Many folks think Obama and his team have been running things behind the scenes anyway, so perhaps that’s what caused the gaffe:

Other Twitter accounts shared similar sentiments: “We already know who pulls the puppet strings but thanks for the confirmation @KJP46,” read one; “She accidentally screamed the quiet part” read another.

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Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on KJP’s part? I’m betting she’d rather be working for Obama than playing clean-up on Aisle Biden every day for a living. Whatever you think about Barack, he was a smooth-talker who rarely garbled the language the way Joe does each and every day.

Plus, he would actually take questions and even give in-person briefings, taking some of the heat off the harried press secretary.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of the former president, but in terms of simply appearing presidential, he was light-years ahead of Bumbling Biden.

To many liberals, Obama is a revered figure; I know one who has a photo prominently displayed in their kitchen of him standing in the rain with glowing lights behind him, looking almost like a religious figure. I doubt many people have similar homages to Biden.

Although it was just, as I said, a slip of the tongue, the moment does show that people two years into this administration still have trouble believing Biden is totally in command.

Did anyone ever call former President Donald Trump the wrong name? If they did, I sure don’t remember it—you knew who was president every single day he was in the White House.

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Heck, Biden himself doesn’t sound like he believes he’s in charge:

And how many times has he referred to our leader as “President Harris?’

We at RedState pile on the beleaguered press secretary, but there’s a reason: she’s terrible at her job. Although this slip-up was just that—it’s a pretty telling one.

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