First Al Gore invented the internet. Then President Barack Obama invented hope and change. And now he proudly claimed in his address to the joint session of Congress:
I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it. None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy. But this is America. We don’t do what’s easy.
Apparently Americans invented everything, including history. And it’s only other nations that walk away, give up, quit and cry like babies when they hit an obstacle. Only other nations do things the easy way, like signing up for three or four credit cards or borrowing money from China and from future taxpayers.
SuperFrenchie is glad that FOX News sets the record straight and even speaks out on behalf of the French:
The credit for internal combustion engines generally is given to German engineer, Karl Benz, who designed and built the world’s first practical automobile in 1885. A steam-powered car was invented in 1769 by French inventor Nicolas Cugnot. Americans, on the other hand, are given credit for the mass production of cars.
Yes, Henry Ford and his team should get credit for empowering the middle class by making cars more affordable. Ford’s invention was also about maximizing profits, I believe.
President Obama also claimed:
We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it.
Marc Ambinder, however, says that credit should go to English and French scientists.
Obama invented internet campaigning and is credited as the first Internet president. Bloggers usually post corrections and admit screw-ups on their website. Obama has conceded in numerous TV interviews having “screwed up” by pushing the appointment of Tom Daschle. And I give him credit for his openness. Thus, I am wondering why the White House has not posted any correction to his address to Congress to set the record straight.
Cross-posted from Atlantic Review
Joerg Wolf is founder and editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Review (http://atlanticreview.org), a blog on transatlantic relations sponsored by the German Fulbright Alumni Association.
He currently works as editor-in-chief of the Open Think Tank atlantic-community.org in Berlin.
Joerg studied political science at the Free University of Berlin and worked as a research associate for the International Risk Policy project at the Free University’s Center for Transatlantic Foreign and Security Policy. He has been a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Washington DC and has worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Cairo and in Berlin.