Did the Obama Administration Botch the Moon Landing Date?

Tuesday, President Obama’s verified Twitter account tweeted an image that read “It’s not 1963 anymore” superimposed over an image of Buzz Aldrin saluting the American flag on the moon.The “Equal Pay Act” was signed in 1963, and the image was part of a series of pictures showing things that have happened since then while women’s pay has remained less than men’s.

It’s been 51 years since the Equal Pay Act was signed, but women still don’t have equal pay. #TimeForProgress pic.twitter.com/z8ojhj9Zr7

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 10, 2014

However, the moon landing image quickly attracted scrutiny because Aldrin and co. landed on the moon in 1969 – not in 1963. Unlike two other images – showing a cloned sheep and the Internet – the moon landing occurred in the 1960s, which presumably was in reference to the large number of years between then and now.

“I wonder if the President has been taking common core history,” joked political commentator Oscar Harmony in a comment to Breitbart News.

Over the course of his political career, Obama has made numerous errors about dates, numbers and other facts, including his infamous “57 states” comment as well as claiming his dying mother was denied insurance because of a “preexisting condition” when that was not actually true. 

Conservative economists reject the alleged pay gap between men and women at issue in the tweets.

In an article, Wage Gap Myth Exposed By Feminists, Huffington Post writer Christina Sommers argued, “Women are close to achieving the goal of equal pay for equal work.” She added, “They may be there already.”

In the article, she argued that whatever pay gap that remains today is negligible, and explained by other factors such as work hours and maternity leave.

The Wall Street Journal says this difference can be easily explained by taking a hard look at other factors. Men are almost twice as likely as women to work more than a 40 hour week, and women are almost twice as likely to work only 35 to 39 hours per week.

The bio on Obama’s twitter account notes it’s operated by Organizing For America staff and that tweets marked “-bo” – which these weren’t – are personally authored by Obama.

Follow Patrick Kane on Twitter @PatVKane.