A freudian slip, also known as a slip of the tongue, is an error in speech caused by a repressed train of thought. In other words, the speaker was subconsciously thinking about what he said — but it was not intended to be heard by others, in the context in which he said it.
On Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama, 50, experienced such a freudian slip during a speech to drum up support for his so-called “Buffett tax”, an increase in taxes on the wealthy.
Obama’s slip of the tongue came when he tried to draw a parallel between billionaires paying the same taxes as a janitor. But instead of saying “janitor” he said “Jew”.
“If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honour. I have no problem with that. It’s about time,” Obama said.
If we refer back to the definition of a freudian slip, we understand that the words ‘Jew’, ‘billionaire’ and ‘tax’ were lurking somewhere in the recesses of Mr. Obama’s relaxed mind.
So even though the president subconsciously put those words together in his mind, he didn’t mean for that particular train of thought to slip out in the presence of others.
Conservative talk show hosts were quick to pounce on Mr. Obama’s gaffe.
“So he was confusing Jew with janitor, and he admits that,” Rush Limbaugh said Monday. “Just think how outraged the Reverends Wright and Farrakhan would be if they heard Obama say that Jews were paying too much in taxes like he thinks the janitors probably are.”
