President Obama demonstrated his playful side during
remarks honoring the 2014 College Football National Champion, the Ohio
State Buckeyes on Monday afternoon in the East Room of the White House.
Video:
The President started off congratulating Coach Urban
Meyer for his third win, noting that he has only done it twice and for
the same team, “I want to thank The Ohio State University President,
Michael Drake, who is here; Athletic Director, Gene Smith; and of
course, Coach Urban Meyer. So this is Ohio State Football’s eighth
National Championship. It’s Coach Meyer’s third time winning it all,
with his second team, which is pretty impressive. I’ve only done it
twice. And for the same team both times.”
“This was a historic year in college football. The
country got to enjoy its first-ever College Football Playoffs,” the
President said. Then Obama went into the Thanks Obama meme joke, “And I
will say it — it was about time. I cannot claim full credit —I will
point out that I pushed for a playoff system in 2008. I’d say I threw
my weight around. PolitiFact, which keeps track of whether politicians
keep their promises — this is a promise kept by me. So you’re welcome,
America. It was a great playoffs.”
The “Thanks, Obama!” meme started when the Right began blaming President Obama for everything that went wrong in their lives. Know Your Meme explains:
“Thanks, Obama!” is a sarcastic expression used by critics of President Barack Obama to blame personal troubles and inconveniences on public policies supported or enacted by the administration. The phrase is often used to caption animated GIFs in which the subject appears to be struggling with a rather simple task, satirizing those who scapegoat Obama as the cause of problems for which he has little or no influence.On December 17th, 2009, the conservative political blog Authentic Connecticut Republican[1] published a post highlighting a demotivational poster of a young girl making a “middle finger” gesture with the caption “Thanks, Obama”.
(You’ll have to click over there to see it. Not family values enough for our liberal audience.)
An example of the meme in use:
The college football playoff final was a massive
success that set a ratings record for ESPN and cable television.
President Obama was joking, but it didn’t hurt the cause to have the
then future president on the side of college football fans who had
suffered for years with the lousy BCS system. President Obama always
seems to love his job, but he gets especially happy when he gets to do
things that any sports fan would consider cool.
For fans, one of the best sports developments of the
Obama years has been the college football playoffs. In the best sense
of the meme, the President deserves a solid Thanks, Obama for fixing
college football.
President Obama has finally responded to the Right’s attempt to blame him for everything by taking credit for something.
“You’re welcome, America.”
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