Health care protesters (a.k.a. “angry mobs” trying to shut off debate) have been spotted carrying signs sporting the P.J. O’Rourke quote, “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Equally popular is some form of the famous observation by columnist Carol Platt Liebau that, “A government bureaucracy controlling your medical care is likely to combine the efficiency of the Post Office with the compassion of the IRS” — which has been misattributed to Ronald Reagan among many others, and has been repeated and adapted ad infinitum.

Now comes Barack Obama – reputedly the smartest President in generations, the greatest orator since Camelot – who once told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (perhaps the dullest orator since Camelot) that he (Obama) had a “gift” for moving an audience. Now the President has joined in the health care debate without appreciating how powerfully the Post Office example resonates with the American people.

Thinking he was disproving the notion that the so-called “public option” would crowd out private insurance by making it impossible for them to compete, Obama supplied a new, if considerably less clever, addition to the above conservative talking points:

“They do it all the time. If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.”

Exactly, Mr. President!

There was no mention of this blunder that I could find on MSNBC, and only a fleeting one on CNN, where the quote was reported, though with no recognition that it made the opposite point than was intended.

I seem to remember George W. Bush getting prominent coverage for much less…

Somebody had better fix that teleprompter, soon.