Obama: Biggest Mistake in American History

I don't know who played in the Super bowl this year. I don't even know when the Super bowl was or where it was. I once scheduled a seminar at a church for the Sunday evening of the Super bowl and didn't find out until the following day why no one showed up for our usually well-attended events. I almost never know who is playing in the World Series. When Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger's death made the headlines, I had never heard of him. Football fans, baseball fans, and movie fans could scarcely imagine that there are millions of people who don't know anything about these three popular activities. Many more people keep up with the news about these activities than keep up with political news. Sure there are political "fans," but they are scarce compared to sports fans.

Pew found that seventy eight percent knew who Payton Manning is (I don't) and 73% knew who Beyonce is (I don't). But only twenty one percent knew who Robert Gates is (I do).

Only about half of Americans can name the Vice President. When asked a direct question only 37% of people know who their state governor is. That number increases to 65% when the correct name is given in a multiple choice question. Even fewer can name their U.S senator or congressman. When it comes to State Representatives the figure falls to about 20%.

And name recognition is the American public's strong suit. Even if they could name their representative, when asked to identify two issues the politician stands for, the percentage drops to only 15%.

When they are asked if they know what political party their representative belongs to, a whopping 68% say they don't know or aren't sure.

But wait, it gets worse; Three quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Show White's seven dwarfs while only a quarter can name two Supreme Court Justices.

According to the poll by Zogby International, 57 percent of Americans could identify J.K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard as Harry Potter, while only 27% could name both of their U.S. senators.

Only 42 percent of those surveyed could list the three branches of our government. But seventy-five percent could name the Three Stooges.

One reality TV show recently interviewed twenty-something models. They didn't know who Condoleezza Rice is and one of them thought George Bush was Vice-President.

All of these people are eligible to vote! They elected whatever his name really is.

Consider these staggering data:

*Fully 71 percent of Americans flunked a 33-question civic-literacy survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Among 2,508 respondents ISI randomly selected, 1,791 failed this test of U.S. historical, political, and economic basics. The average score was just 49 out of 100 -- a solid F. While just 2.6 percent scored Bs on this quiz, only 0.8 percent earned As.

*Just 49 percent of rank-and-file Americans can identify the legislature, executive, and judiciary as our three branches of government.

*Forty percent of college graduates have no idea that corporate profits equal revenues minus expenses. (Thus, congressional demagoguery about “windfall profits” falls on sympathetic ears.) Only 24 percent of college grads realize that the First Amendment forbids the establishment of an official U.S. religion.

*Amazingly enough, this sample’s 164 self-identified elected officials know even less than laymen. They averaged only 44, as the blind lead the bland. Among office holders, 30 percent did not know that the Declaration of Independence heralds “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

*However, we the people closely follow popular culture here in the United States of “American Idol.” Only 21 percent of respondents correctly identified Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address as the source of the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” But 56 percent properly named Paula Abdul as a judge on the karaoke sensation “American Idol.”

God help us.