In commenting on those historical flubs in the President’s non-SOTU speech, I forgot to hat-tip Tom Meehan’s blog, from where I poached my language.

Some other readers quibbled over the building of the railroad, pointing out that planning and funding got under way during the Civil War. Says a colleague:

The point Obama was clumsily trying to make, I think, was that we appropriated money to build the transcontinental railroad in the midst of a terrible and expensive war, and it ended up making a lot of money for the robber barons. That much is true, though what applicability it has to the present situation is unclear.

So what? Obama was making an argument for big appropriations, to be spent at some future date, to the advantage of well-connected playahs? Well, that would fit in nicely with the general modus operandi of our federal government and legislature … and not at all badly with Obama’s pre-presidential career, come to think of it.

Numerous other readers pointed out the President’s error in describing himself as the 44th person to take the Presidential oath, apparently forgetting the Beast of Buffalo.