Barack Obama was corrected by an annoyed crowd in Buffalo, New York, after he flubbed the name of the city’s mayor in a speech on the university campus.
President Barack Obama was making a policy speech about his plan to give universities ratings for their cost effectiveness when he began to praise “Mayor Brian Higgins”.
“Your outstanding mayor, Brian Higgins, is here. Give him a big round of applause,” Barack Obama says.
Some people in the crowd began to applaud, but others began shouting the mayor’s actual name – Byron Brown – at Barack Obama.
Brian Higgins is the Democratic Congressman who represents the Buffalo area.
Barack Obama responds: “…What? Byron Brown. Yes. I’m sorry about that.”
He then blames the fumble on his age.
“This is what happens when you get to be 52 years old. When I was 51, everything was smooth,” the president joked.
Byron Brown, a Democrat, was not offended by the mistake. He told reporters after the event: “Clearly the president knows who we are. It was a slip of the tongue.”
In May, Barack Obama flubbed the name of Governor Martin O’Malley, the head of the state next door to the nation’s capital.
He referred to the fellow Democrat at “Jack O’Malley”, not once, but twice.
The president is touting a new program during a two-day bus tour that will rate colleges by the expected income of their graduates, compared against the cost of tuition.
Barack Obama says the plan will help parents and students make better-informed decisions about higher education.
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