Now, I’m not going to take the cheap route, here, and jump all over Barack Obama (or compare him to Dan Quayle) just for suggesting that his time spent schmoozing world leaders is important because he expects to be “dealing with them over the next 8 to 10 years,”. Every schoolchild knows that - unless he’s expecting to repeal the 22nd amendment - no president will serve more than two four year terms. I’m sure Obama, who is a brilliant constitutional scholar and former editor of the Harvard Law Review (albeit one who appears to have published no writings), knows better and simply misspoke. We all do that, right?
I know I do. Frequently. Which is why if elected I will not serve!
Actually, Beldar tells why it IS important to consider the gaffe.
But this is a good opportunity for Americans to test themselves on what they know and don’t know. In a few months, we’ll all be voting. It would probably be a good thing to be aware of just how up-to-date we are with things, and also what we know of civics (that would be knowledge of our founding documents, rights and so forth) which should be interesting given that “civics” classes, as such, are no longer part of most high school curricula.
So…here we go. Two tests, the first one is pretty easy - it’s the stuff you should be picking up with a cursory reading of the news. I got them all correct, although that only translated to 97% for some reason - but it is interesting to compare what you know to the rest of the country, and to break it down.
The second test, the American Civics Literacy Test is much more challenging. I got 93.33%, although I think on 2-3 of my answers I just got lucky.
Take the tests (h/t reader Dick T.) give them to your kids. I’d love to see our presidential candidates take the Civics test…if we could be sure they wouldn’t get coaching! Kim at Wizbang seems to want to see that, too.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Obama thinks he will be president for the next “8 - 10 years”…
Oh my. If you don’t believe me, watch the video: Link: sevenload.com I’m praying that he simply misspoke. No one who is a constitutional scholar could possibly be so ignorant……
July 20th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
American Civics Literacy Test — 59 out of 60 correctly — 98.33 percent - and I could argue over the Federal Reserve question that I supposedly got wrong.
On the Pew News IQ test, I also got 12 out of 12. (The 97 score is the 97th percentile, not 97 percent correct.)
I ain’t running for president, though.
July 20th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
well, since I can’t tell the difference between a percentile and a percent, neither will I run for president!
July 20th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I also got only one wrong: question 27.
27) Which statement is a common argument against the claim that “man cannot know things”?
And to tell you the truth I haven’t an idea where the correct answer comes from. How common is it anyway?
July 21st, 2008 at 12:45 am
“10 year” presidencies…
“The bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor”…
The “57 states” of the United States of America…
“I can no more disown Rev. Wright than I could disown my grandmother”…
What? I can’t give my “historic” speech at the Brandenburg Gate? Okay. I’ll give it at the Siegessäule monument instead… you know, that wonderful column which was “moved by Adolf Hitler to its current location in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital ‘Germania’.”
July 21st, 2008 at 4:47 am
[...] Hat tip: The Anchoress [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 5:31 am
I think the statement that amazed me the most was the one Obama made after he lost Kentucky by such a large margin. He said Hillary Clinton did better there because she was from one of those middle states down there and was closer, or something like that. It struck me as odd because Illinois borders Kentucky, not Arkansas. And he is a Senator from Illinois. How could he not know that Kentucky borders Illinois, not Arkansas. I mean that is just strange.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:13 am
[...] In light of Obama’s "8-10 years" of being the President gaffe, the Anchoress posted two interesting quizzes. The first is a "News IQ" quiz from the Pew Center for [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 10:34 am
Obama said that he’d be dealing with these people for the next 8-10 years, not that he’d be president. He’s correct. From now until Jan 20, 2017 is about 8-1/2 years. Obama is the great gaffe machine. We needn’t stretch so much to find them.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:44 am
57 States; 10 year term; hey these are only single digit mistakes, 7 and 2 respectively; can’t a guy just eat his waffle?
July 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am
Terrye - in fairness to Obama, I came to think of that particular “gaffe” as him actually joking…that he was being deliberately vague about the location of Kentucky, in the way many Americans are, “you know…one of those other states…” I actually think it was a joke. Who knows?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:05 am
[...] The Anchoress inspired me to take the test today. I matched her score of 56 out of 60, or 93%. Oh well, you can’t know everything. [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 11:26 am
Terrye - If you want to play geography gotcha, Senator McCain contrived to abolish Iran today when he spoke of the “serious situation” on the hitherto unknown “Iraq/Pakistan border.” Look, given the punishing schedule these candidates are obliged to maintain, it’s a wonder either of them contrives to be even intermittently coherent. Oh, and Trubador: Bitburg. More pointless gotcha, and a Godwin violation to boot.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I wish we had another choice (not Barr, for crying out loud). McCain seems erratic and Obama wants the most powerful office in the world after a career as a dubiously successful community activist, a state legislator with a voting record of mostly “present!” votes, and a whopping 140something days working in Congress - which is not sufficient. This is why Senators make lousy presidential candidates: they’ve no executive experience; they’ve never run anything, they’ve never met a payroll. They just legislate and cover their asses as much as possible, and find ways to hide things in legislation to make their shifty deals legal. Sheesh. What a way to run a railroad.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Have you checked out the new site from I Can Haz Cheezburger? It’s been helping me keep my sense of humor about politics and media. http://punditkitchen.com
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I don’t know why everybody is making such a big deal about the “dealing with them for the next 8-10 years” comment. Obama was simply predicting that a) he would lose the election in November, b) he would win re-election to the Senate in 2010 and 2016, and c) he’d have to resign after being convicted sometime in the 2016-2018 time frame.
What? You don’t agree? Do the math!