POSTED AT 8:05 AM ON DECEMBER 7, 2011 BY ED MORRISSEY

Remember when Barack Obama blamed unemployment on ATMs?  Yesterday in Kansas, the President reiterated that a 40-year-old technology that has been in wide usage since he was in college is a cause for unemployment today — and just in case no one buys that, Obama decided to blame another technological advancement, too:

“Layoffs too often became permanent, not part of the business cycle. And these changes didn’t just affect blue collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs and the internet,”      President Obama said at a campaign event in Kansas.

RCP also has the video.  Now, my recollection of a good economy and low unemployment may be fuzzy — it’s been a few years — but as I recall, the Internet was in full swing five years ago, when the unemployment rate was 4.4% and the civilian participation rate in the workforce was 66.4%.  The Internet actually provided a marketplace that employed plenty of people back then — and still does today.  And we had quite a few ATMs that year, too.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!