President Obama says he’s looking at the big picture, not sweating the small stuff.

The stock market is story of like a tracking poll in politics. It bobs up and down day-to-day,“ Obama said. ”And if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you’re probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong.“

Another way to get your long-term strategy wrong is by being clueless and confused about simple economic theory. For example, by garbling the definition of the P/E ratio.

“What you’re now seeing is a profit and earnings ratios get to the point that buying stocks is a good thing if you have a long-term perspective on it,” he said to reporters after meeting in the Oval Office with visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Shouldn’t a President of the US know that “P/E Ratio” means “price-to-earnings ratio,” not “profit and earnings ratio?” There is a difference.

Imagine, if you will, the media reaction if George Bush had made such a basic economic blunder in a time of crisis.

(Hat tip: Manifest Destiny.)