Saturday, February 28. 2009
Setting the Record Straight: Carl Benz from Germany Invented the Car
Posted by Joerg Wolf in International Economics, Transatlantic Relations, US Domestic and Cultural Issues on Saturday, February 28. 2009
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:
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 tax payers.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.
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.
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.
You sure, Joerg? If the Bushter had asserted such a thing we could have put it down to profound ignorance and Yankee blowhardness.
But this was "The Chosen One" (tm). It's dificult to see how he could possibly be that misinformed and loose lipped, isn't it?
Unless.... Perhaps he isn't that much different than Bushey after all? But that is just too absurd for words! ;)
Joerg: great post, it made me laugh today here in cranky Tehran.
Don: Thank God it`s a very minor similarity between Prez O. and B. and one that both could be forgiven for. Understandably, a US President wants to give a nice sounding speech and here the speech-writer got carried away with an overdose of national pride. So far no claims for WMDs in Iran, Syria or the like to justify military action.
"Carl Benz from Germany Invented the Car"
Agreed.
"Obama invented internet campaigning..."
No, it was Howard Dean in 2003-4. He lost, but they made him Chairman of the Democratic Party because of his success at (mostly) Internet fund-raising and networking.
"...and is credited as the first Internet president."
True that.
Which European politicians are the most Internet-savvy? Who will be the first European "Internet politician"? Perhaps it has already happened?
Is the EP more open to an Internet-style campaign, or will we see the first major Internet politician win in national politics? Which nation?
"Is the EP more open to an Internet-style campaign, or will we see the first major Internet politician win in national politics? Which nation?"
EP? You are not talking about the European Parliament are you?
For that no campaign is needed, as it doesn't matter who sits in there :D
I am not entirely sure about the other nations, but for German political parties, sending a politician to the European Parliament is almost like retirement. It is like sending an old ambassador to a nice little country in an enjoyable climate-zone, more of an honorary mission than a really political one.
Yes, I was talking about the EP.
I've accused the Europhiles of being anti-Democratic, of being willing to accept rule by Philosopher-Kings (technocrats, i.e. the Commission and the Council) which I consider to be equivalent to an oligarchy. Europhiles typically respond, well what about the EP, it is democratic. I point out to them that the EP has very little power and they try to suggest I am being unfair or that I don't understand, or something. I'm glad to see at least one European is willing to tell the truth, that the EP, which is the only democratic part of the EU, is weak and not taken seriously.
"Obama invented internet campaigning"
I protest, Ségolène did it first
uh, I heard that in Germany, you're gonna choose your congressists in a "reality show" :lol:
"I protest, Ségolène did it first"
I thought she invented the auto, Marie-Claude?
Actually, someone probably invented the Internet campaign
back in the Usenet (pre-1995) days, in an unsuccessful campaign for dogcatcher or something....
The real measure we're looking for is the first politician who used the internet in a material way to achieve an outsized result, or perhaps to win a big office.
Could be Howard dean, could be Ségolène, could be Obama, depending on how you count it. Dean did much better than he would have without the internet in 2004, but didn't win the nomination. Ségolène won her party's nomination but not the Presidency of France, and Obama won the US Presidency.
and you complain when I bait your americanism LMAO
Well she has a active internet site like Obama's
Forgive me, Marie-Claude, I Forgot that france had it's own private Internet for years and years, so perhaps a french candidate for dogcatcher came first - on Minitel.
Do you know whether anyone ran a political campaign on Mnitel?
no, but I heard that "minitel rose" was a common use
Well, sexual politics is a form of politics :-)
A French cultural question:
I approve of the the French practice of letting children drink wine. A little bit doesn't hurt them, as long as it is watered down in proportion to body weight, and young adults should learn how to drink from adults, instead of from other children. So...did that freedom for children extend to the Minitel messageries roses, or did they decide to try and prevent that?
no the children didn't find easy and or funny to use Minitel, also because the parents surveyed it, it costed quite a lot to use it
obama's gaffe was pointed out wed. the 25th by rush limbaugh.
I make a point to listen to him daily.
RUSH: Now, a quick pop quiz, ladies and gentlemen. Who actually invented the automobile? I'm sorry, the Americans didn't do it. The internal combustion engine in the first automobile was invented by a German by the name of Karl Benz, which led to Mercedes Benz, which then begot Wilhelm Maybach, which has led to the Maybach automobile. Henry Ford invented the assembly line for manufacturing automobiles, and he did invent the Model T, but the automobile was invented by Karl Benz.
Hi katie, welcome to Atlantic Review.
I just watched Rush's address to CPAC on [url=http://www.popmodal.com/video/2076/p01-Rush-Limbaugh-Gives-Speech-to-the-Conservative-Political-Action-Committee]PopModal[/url]. He made some good points, and the point about giving his talk from the heart, without a Telepropter, was particularly powerful. That could be a new "thing" for all conservatives, that they speak from the heart without a prompter. It isn't hard to do, you just have to take public speaking classes. This ability is vitally important for conservatives and Republicans; part of the problem with Bush was, he wasn't able to fully use the power of the President's bully pulpit.
However, in the second half of the speech he started to sweat, and wander a bit, and it was distracting. It made me wonder if he was "loosing it" instead of paying 100% attention to his words. Also you could tell he was skipping around a bit.
Instead of going without notes, perhaps he should have had a few cards with an outline. He still could have bragged about speaking from the heart, and held up his cards to the audience to show them there were no words on them, just outlines. With an outline he perhaps could have kept his early momentum going strong all the way through the speech.
Did you watch his CPAC speech? What did you think?
john,
hi, yes I watched rush. I loved it, he even talked 1 hour longer than he was suppose to.
I'm an american living in germany since 1997.living over here taught me what I don't want to be like. Alot of the germans I know thing everybody owes them something.
I listen to internet radio to limbaugh and levin.
my mother has always been a rush limbaugh fan.
the one question I have for the republicans that have a hissy fit over rush wanted obama's policies to fail. are they socialist now?
I think it's great that the Republicans have a drug-addled, obese blowhard as their spokesman. I listen to Rush sometimes when I drive, and I know the words to "Barack the Magic Negro" by heart.
As long as he is the face of the party, the Republicans will lose every election cycle until they become the state party of Alabama with the Confederate flag as their symbol. Maybe then they can rebuild from the ashes.
You shouldn't be so harsh on Rev Sharpton and Rep Nadler!
Let me guess, you believe deeply in your interpersonal skills, and are fond of calling people you don't agree with "haters". Let me employ your apporach to rhetoric: I think it's great that we have a lawyer who used to blow lines, has successfully employed class-warfare, Gramscian public behaviour modification techniques, and has never run anything that wasn't a make-work setup before as our president, especially now.
As a means of understanding ideas, it's patently obvious that you have none. And no, abusiveness, narcissism, political greed, and bloodlust are not, in fact, ideas. You may also be surprised to discover that they aren't virtues either.
All you can be sure of is that the impression you will be offered by the press will indicate nothing real about the moves of this White House. The first small international policy success at anything will most likely be compared to the Cuban missile crisis since they say glowing documentaries about it over and over since they were 4.
As for the strength of this administration's approach internationally, take a look at today's news:
- Obama offers Medvedyev to back off on missile defense in exchange for support in containing the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Kremlin pockets offer knowing that Obama will kill missile defense. Medvedyev is quoted as saying "that it's inapproporate to connect two issues" so that they can continue to sell them equipment and use that as a bairgaining chip.
- White house tries to make O-verture directly to Ahmendinejad. Ahmedinejad pockets goodwill, tells his population that this is a sign of their power over the US, continiues to rehease the "swarm" attack strategy that they developed and saw used in Mumbai and yesterday in Lahore.
The press in the US will chillingly 'suppress itself' in teh interest of their man in Washington and either run cursory undetailed reports of these two events or somehow subjectively call them an American success, and without even needing Stalinist-style media control by the government.
Actually, if you are familiar with the "[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Negro]Magic Negro[/url]" stereotype as documented by Spike Lee and others, that's exactly what Obama is.
One of the challenges in the "national conversation on race" will be to let everyone participate, instead of limiting the conversation to certain People of Color and certain White Liberals who have been "certified" as having sufficient ideological purity to be permitted into the discussion.
This coversation will need to include discussions of why inner city kids must at all costs remain in failing inner city schools. With almost a trillion dollars in "stimulus" (and more to come in the official budget), we apparently can't afford to [url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604286020215187.html]continue to fund the proven, successful, popular DC voucher program[/url], costing less than $10 million per year. That is racism, plain and simple: African-Americans cannot be permitted to succeed or benefit, unless they do so as a result of a Democratic Party initiative.
It will be a challenge, and it will get ugly at times, but this conversation needs to happen or at least be attempted.
What's preventing such a discussion from taking place? Why don't you initiate it?
Why does this remind me of a scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding":
[i]Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course! Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter. So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe. You see: robe, kimono. There you go![/i]
"Thus, I am wondering why the White House has not posted any correction to his address to Congress to set the record straight."
Indeed. One day, official government sites will become responsible for issuing corrections, as are most blog sites and some MSM sites. Perhaps when that happens we will all agree who is the first Internet politician...
In addition to inventing the Internet, automobiles, history, persistence, and solar power, Obama has also invented the carrots-and-sticks approach to diplomacy. This new innovation is now being used, for the first time ever, in our discussions with Iran. Watch and learn, Europe!
If was ROFL when I heard this sentence in Obamas speech. How ridiculus is this? What is with the Nuclear Bomb? Was it Oppenheimer or America? The rocketprograms? Werner von Braun - or America? Or the Computer? Maybe Silicon Valley? Or Konrad Zuse - from Germany? The first printed Bible? Gutenberg! Maybe we're talkin about a different history - but we know what we've done....
Yeah, but we Yankees invented the greatest source of governemt revenue and we should be thanked on bended knees for the first electric traffic light. And the subsequent revenue stream. The English did put up a gas powered stop light outside of Parliament but that blew up killing the policeman that was hiding behind the English version of the Burma Shave sign.
We invented photograph, cinematograph, mongolfiere, aviation TGV...
"As a means of understanding ideas, it's patently obvious that you have none."
I understand your ideas quite well. And, like most Americans, I reject them.
Most? A 99% north Korean vote? Look, the more people know about the motives of the left (after the soaring rhetoric and promises are made), they distance themselves from it. They long since stopped being populists and are more likely to associate them with the kind of death by a million cuts of rulemaking assocaited with an elite forcing themselves on peoples' lives.
Anyone as convinced as most of their activists are that their notions are flawless, without consequence and a universal benefit to humanity needs a head-check.
August Otto invented the internal combustion engine not Benz. Benz applied the use of the combustion engine to the use of the automobile.
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