It may have been unwise of Obama to give a speech that would lend itself to misinterpretation. Many people mentally shut down the moment they hear something the

It may have been unwise of Obama to give a speech that would lend itself to misinterpretation. Many people mentally shut down the moment they hear something they might disagree with. So to be effective you have to wrap every statement in as much flowery language as you can or you won't get through to people. Even here on HN where most people are intellectually curious and highly educated you still have to pick your words very carefully or you'll get attacked from a dozen different angles about claims you never made and which are not even fundamental to the argument you're making. This mistake we all make time and time again before it truly sinks in that everything you say will be misinterpreted, ripped out of context and used against you. Now... if only Obama had a blog then he would never have made that remark. The irony indeed.