Claim:   Barack Obama urged his supporters to join him in changing "the greatest nation in the history of the world."

Status:   False.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, March 2008]

Is this true? "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." — Barack Obama

Origins:   The quote cited above sounds like the kind of verbal slip-up that occasionally escapes from the lips of politicians and other public figures: An idea that seems reasonable in thought (i.e., just because something is the best or greatest doesn't mean it can't be further improved) comes out expressed in wording that, when taken literally, can be interpreted as meaning just the opposite of what the speaker intended to say.

In this case, however, the quote is a fictional double whammy: It not only began as a political in-joke rather than something uttered by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, but in its original incarnation its humor was apparently directed at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona senator John McCain.

Here's how the quote appeared on the National Review Online blog The Corner, where it was posted by Mark Steyn on 28 January 2008:

Three weeks ago, after New Hampshire, when Hill and McCain and the gang were all bragging about being "agents of change," a (non-U.S.) correspondent of mine e-mailed me his all-purpose stump speech for this primary season:

My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.

Change (as in "Yes, we can change") certainly has been one of the predominant themes of Senator Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, but not quite through the wording presented here.

Last updated:   15 March 2008

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