Yeah, me neither. It equates two very different kinds of conflict: The straightforward fighting of World Wars I and II on one hand, and the various shadow, proxy, and diplomatic wars of the Cold War on the other. Since we’re still living with the results of the latter it behooves us to understand it on at least a moderately deep level.
In my view, WWIII is what the Cold War ended up preventing.
I’ve never hear the Cold War referred to as WWIII, and I doubt that was what Obama was thinking.
Oh, and Obama doesn’t know the difference between Florida and Ohio (I think it was those two states he mixed up).
Man, these guys have to be exhausted. Especially Old Man McCain. I don’t think I could do what they’re doing.
I’m pretty sure that was a long, long time ago.
What 1922 isn’t long enough ago for you? I’m just wondering how she travelled from a galaxy far, far away.
I don’t even think they call it a war anymore, I think it’s known as The Cold Conflict.
I generally agree, though once or twice I’ve seen the “War on Terror” referred to as “World War IV,” with the Cold War serving as III.
Anyway, I think Obama either goofed the fact without thinking about it, or else meant to say “World War 2” and it came out “2 world wars.”
It was a collection of smaller wars, public and private, guided by overall maneuvering by the diplomats and politicians of China, America, and the USSR. WWI and WWII, on the other hand, were smaller collections of larger conflicts, all more-or-less public, with relatively little diplomatic maneuvering compared to what went on during the Cold War.
The result was that the Cold War looked like a string of short conflicts erupting around the world and you had to look a bit deeper to find any connecting threads at all. Sometimes, those threads were classified and you couldn’t find them without being a direct part of the whole process. World Wars I and II, on the other hand, had a stable cast of countries more-or-less from beginning to end, with some notable exceptions.
You’re right-- I caught that too. It was lovely seeing the normally smug Ms. Holmes lose it a little.
The man just lost his grandmother. This is really inconsequential.
{{{{{{{{{Obama}}}}}}}}}
Sure, but considering how much effort we’ve put in to finding the stupid in every remark McCain and Palin make, we owe it to the world to point out that Obama goofed, too.
Come on, guys… you can’t spin the Cold War into WWIII.
It really sucks that his grandmother passed away just 36 hours before she would have seen her grandson elected President, though. I don’t believe in heaven, but if there is one, they had better get cable.
I caught that in the newsclip of his speech where he mentioned her. Born in 1922, two world wars…uh.
Inconsequential, IMO. The guy’s scary-bright so it isn’t like he doesn’t know basic history. He has to be exhausted in the last countdown hours of the campaign anyway and he looked like he was trying very hard not to lose it.
I haven’t counted McCain’s occasional blips of the tongue against him for the past few weeks either, just because the process is so grueling. I don’t know how any of them are still on their feet, much less speaking in whole sentences.
They’re human.
Easy enough to mix up “lived through World War II” with “lived through two world wars”, but even if he honestly believed the latter interpretation at the moment he said it, big deal. He’s human, on the verge of the biggest day of his life and he just lost his grandma. Cut him some slack.
Obviously the OP is just jesting about this. But seriously, let’s not try and make this anything more than it was-- an understandable flub by a guy who must be exhausted beyond what most of us can comprehend. There is no need to try and rationalize some explanation like the Cold War was WWIII. Let’s face it, he has just gone thru a grueling campaign and then, at almost the moment when he could relax, he loses a close and dear relative-- it must be just devastating. He has no time to grieve, since he has to keep up that presidential appearance until the last moment. God, they must both be glad this whole thing is over…
I’ll give her WW2 and Korea. What state was she in the rest of the time? 
Wait a minute… lived through two… semi-dead the rest of the time?
:eek:OH MY GOD! OBAMA’S GRANDMA IS A ZOMBIE MUSLIM! WHAT DOES THAT MAKE HIM???:eek:
All this talk about “the Cold War = WWIII” is worth a pitting in itself. It was not a war - it was just a bunch of shit happening. I’ve even heard people call the War on Terror World War Five, the logic being:
WW1 - Napolean’s campaigns
WW2 - the Great War (aka WW1)
WW3 - the one with Nazis
WW4 - the Cold “War”
WW5 - terrorism = 
It just pisses me off. It doesn’t even make sense - the only part that I may concede is that Napolean’s campaigns stretched across many continents, so by that definition should be a world war, but it’s an arbitrary label that didn’t exist back then, so shut up.
The only thing worse is people saying WWI and WWII are really just the same war, really if you think about it. Bullshit. They are completely seperate conflicts. Without the first we wouldn’t have the second, but where do you draw the line? Without the second we wouldn’t have had the Cold War, without that, no war on terror. So therefore WW1 = War on Terror?
Oh, and something relevant to the OP: what Obama said was a simple enough mistake. But, since he chose to run for POTUS and therefore the centre of the nation’s attention, we have the right to grill him for it. All in the name of good fun, of course.
Don’t forget the War Against Christmas.
What, no love for Alexander the Great? He only conquered all of (at the time) known civilization.
TWAT is obviously WWVI.
ETA: Congratulations, Rand Rover, you made me laugh. On purpose.
Sorry, I’m no fan of Holmes, but you both misunderstood her, and forgot or missed some recent history.
She was recalling an incident from a few months ago, when Joe Biden spoke about how FDR went on television in 1929 to reassure the American people about the stock market crash. It was Biden who mistakenly thought a) FDR was president in 1929 and b) there was broadcast television in 1929. (He was thinking of Roosevelt’s famous “Fireside Chats” on the radio in 1933 and 1934.)
President. 
Actually, the Seven Year War was even more of a “world war” than the Napoleonic Wars. So I suppose *it *could be called WW1.