What are the 57 states that President Obama is referring to?

Answer 1

Yes and no. First, it should be noted that politicians during a grueling campaign will stumble or have a slip of the tongue. Partisans will leap on these mistakes immediately and say they "prove" something bad about the candidate. The truth is usually far more nuanced. In this case, the incident occurred during the 2008 campaign, and yes, during an interview, Barack Obama said he had been to all 57 states. This immediately aroused partisans on both sides. Some of his opponents said he was referring to the number of Muslim states (the rumor was that he was a secret Muslim; but as snopes.com pointed out, there are more than 57 Muslim states or countries-- 60 is the accepted number).

Some of his supporters, as well as people who have been involved in campaigns, said this was much ado about nothing: he was tired, he said 57 instead of 47, and people sometimes make mistakes when they are speaking. Whichever interpretation you believe, there is no evidence that Mr. Obama doesn't know how many states there are, since he frequently refers to the states he has visited. I enclose the link to the explanation from snopes.com.

Answer 2

He meant to say "47 states". While in Oregon, he said "I have been in 57 states. I think I have one more left to go." He went on to explain that he'd been unable to visit Alaska and Hawaii. He latter blamed the gaffe on drowsiness.

[VV]: could it be that he was counting 50 states + DC + American Samoa + Guam + Northern Mariana Islands + U.S. Virgin Islands + Puerto Rico + Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands= 57? There's also Palmyra Atoll, but it's uninhabited.

The remark about the 57 states goes back to the presidential campaign of 2008, when Mr. Obama was giving a campaign speech in Beaverton, Oregon. Unfortunately, the media often focus on whenever a candidate or political figure has a slip of the tongue. Then, partisan Talk Shows replay it over and over. Two good examples, one from each political party, are Texas governor Rick Perry's "oops" gaffe during the Republican candidates' debates in November 2011, and Barack Obama's "57 states" gaffe.

Answer 3

First, it should be noted that when you are out campaigning, and you are talking to thousands of people, sometimes you stumble when you are speaking-- it happens to everyone at one time or other. Your words come out wrong or you say something that makes no sense. President Obama, like President Bush before him (and like every other president in our modern era of 24/7 news coverage), has said things that accidentally came out wrong. He knows there are 50 states. (Actually, the day he said it wrong, he said 57, not 54; it was on a campaign stop in Oregon, back in 2008).