The new President Obama and First Lady Image via WikipediaDuring the presidential campaign the Republican smear machine was quite busy making up more lies than the National Inquirer: his daddy wasn't his real daddy, he wasn't black enough or white enough, he had the name of a terrorist, he was a practicing Muslim, that he wasn't as experienced as McCain on the economy (McCain publicly admitted he didn't know or care anything about the economy during his entire time in Washington) and much more.
Humorous political quotes from the presidential campaign trail often take on an eerie quality once one of the combatants gets elected. It’s no different with President Obama’s quotes when he was battling McCain. It is McCain who is still battling Obama trying to wrestle power away from him with some of the most ridiculous and reckless accusations. Let’s take a trip down memory lane of the 2008 campaign trail to see how Obama responded to the world of the Republican ridiculous. McCain didn’t say anything substantive then just like now. It appears that Obama still has his sense of humor...
President Obama Quotes from the 2008 Campaign Trail
"Now, because he knows that his economic theories don't work, he's been spending these last few days calling me every name in the book. Lately he's called me a socialist for wanting to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. I don't know what's next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich." – responding to John McCain's attacks, Raleigh, North Carolina, Oct. 29, 2008
On his image: "Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth. Many of you know that I got my name, Barack, from my father. What you may not know is Barack is actually Swahili for 'That One.' And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for president. If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome." - @ the Al Smith Dinner
"Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president that he'll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys network in Washington.' Now I'm not making this up. This is somebody who's been in Congress for twenty-six years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he's the one who's gonna' to take on the old boys network. The old boys network? In the McCain campaign that's called a staff meeting. Come, on!"
"Sen. McCain bragged about how as chairman of the Commerce Committee in the Senate, he had oversight of every part of the economy. Well, all I can say to Sen. McCain is, 'Nice job. Nice job.' Where is he getting these lines? The lobbyists running his campaign? ... I'm not making this up, you can't make this up. It's like a 'Saturday Night Live' routine."
"I mean, you know, as somebody who used to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek, you know. Those were the days." - musing with David Letterman about the Sarah Palin phenomenon.
"I've been called worse on the basketball court." - on attacks against him at the Republican Convention.
"That's what he talked about yesterday, 'I want to drill here. I want to drill now.' I don't know where he was standing. I think he was in a building somewhere." - on John McCain's energy plan.
"Now that's my phone buzzing there. I don't want you to think I'm getting fresh or anything." - posing for a picture with supporters in Indiana, when he apparently felt his phone start to vibrate in his pocket, against which one woman was closely pressed.
"They say I need to be seasoned; they say I need to be stewed. They say, 'We need to boil all the hope out of him -- like us -- and then he'll be ready.'" To watch the video, go here.
"But the truth is when you really get to know Rahm, he does have a softer side, Amy will attest to this; very few people know, I think, know prior to this evening that he studied Ballet for a few years. In fact, he was the first to adopt Machiavelli's the prince for dance. It was an intriguing piece, as you can imagine, there were a lot of kicks below the waist." -roasting his future chief of staff Rahm Emaneul in 2005. To watch the video, go here.
"Look, when I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point." To watch the video clip, go here.
"It is true, I worry about the hype. The only person more over-hyped than me is you." – to Jon Stewart.
"I don't want to be invited to the family hunting party." - on revelations that he and Dick Cheney are eighth cousins.
"Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare 'Mission Accomplished' a little too soon."
"I would have to...investigate more of Bill's dancing abilities, you know, and some of this other stuff before I accurately judge whether he was in fact a brother." - on whether Bill Clinton was "our first black president."
The following quotes are from Barack Obama's speech at the 2005 Gridiron dinner:
"It's like I was shot out of a cannon. I'm so overexposed that I make Paris Hilton look like a recluse."
On the controversial Ukraine election: "Well, President Bush said he wanted to export American-style democracy and, by God, I think its working."
"(The pundits) said you can't win in a year like this with a name like Obama. There was quite a bit of confusion at first, but it did get me free airtime on Al Jazeera."
"It's been a great ride. But I know how quickly these fads can pass. You all remember the pet rock, the mood ring, Howard Dean."
"I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down. So tonight, I'm announcing my retirement from the United States Senate."
Obama also held up a mock-up of a supermarket tabloid proclaiming, "Obama's Shocking Secret: He's Strom Thurmond's Love Child."
On excitement in his father's native Kenya that his election would mean the building of billions of dollars in new roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools in their country: "I've tried to explain how it works these days. First comes the invasion and then billions in aid."
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