President Obama’s Alaska Purchase Zinger: Too Soon? Really?

Two of my favorite conservative bloggers, Ed Morrissey and Moe Lane, gave me a good chuckle this morning, and man, did I need it.  The subject is President Obama’s latest “gaffe.”  I’ll let my friend, Ed, introduce it:

Yesterday found Barack Obama in fine form while meeting with an audience comprised mainly of Russian business leaders, clumsily reminding them of a transaction that still rankles the Russians to this day, as Reuters explains:

Referring to the long history of Russia-U.S. trade stretching back more than two centuries, Obama told an audience of business people in Moscow:

“Along the way, you gave us a pretty good deal on Alaska. Thank you.”

Czar Alexander II’s sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million in gold, around 1.9 cents per acre, was regarded by Russians as a national disgrace — particularly once it became clear that the province was rich in oil.

Ed was characteristically measured in his criticism, calling the quip an insult, and an indication that the President might not understand diplomacy.  On the other hand, he called it his “Obamateurism of the Day,” so I guess, when you’ve already decided you’re going to do one of these every day, you’ve got to work with what you’re given.

Moe Lane, on the other hand, ratchets up the mock outrage, comparing the Alaska Purchase, by turns, to the Boxer Rebellion and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.