Obama: Real Americans Speak French and Spanish
Barack Obama, the most far-left major party candidate to ever run for the presidency, is now attempting to reposition himself towards the center. However, his words occasionally betray him and reveal to voters his not-so-hidden nature. Just recently, at a campaign stop in Georgia, he shared with his audience yet another method by which they could better themselves. Previously, he called for citizens to devote more time to public service, but on July 8 he offered linguistic counsel:
I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about “we need to have English only.” They want to pass a law “we want just, we want English only.” Now I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that, but, but, understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language. You know, it’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here. They all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is “Merci beaucoup.”
The would-be uniter’s venture into self-improvement offends at a multitude of levels. To begin with, it reveals him to be completely ignorant of history because Europe is doomed economically and France in particular: “[their] fiscal freedom and government size scores are extraordinarily weak. As in many other European social democracies, government spending and tax rates are exceptionally high to support an extensive welfare state.”
What embarrasses mightily is that Barack Obama can get this close to becoming president without comprehending that, in the twenty-first century, the French and their language are completely irrelevant. The Gauls ceased being significant in June 1940 and their culture should be the last thing our children study. Most of us — aside from a few recalcitrant pseudo-intellectuals in our major cities who bitterly cling to affected moral superiority, berets, cloves, and defeatism — realize that true humiliation is not to be found here but in the land of those who collapsed at Sedan, constructed Vichy France, gave birth to post-modernism, and support a powerful political party that advances socialist principles.
Furthermore, the argument Obama put forth at the rally was a non-sequitur. His conclusion is devoid of logic and estranged from rational premise. His instructions produce questions rather than answers. Why should immigrants bother to learn English if every American will eventually learn Spanish? Conversely, since he agrees that immigrants should master English, why then should indigènes master Spanish? Also, is not his focus on Europe a bit provincial? In lieu of current events and population trends, would it not be more advantageous for pupils to become fluent in Chinese, Hindi, or Arabic? Comprehending those languages is what will matter in the years to come.
Moreover, English rather than Spanish is the predominant language of the internet. If the Democratic nominee wants to assist students he should recommend their becoming excellent practitioners of English as opposed to memorizing verb conjugations which will offer them little assistance in the global marketplace.
Most of us realize that this is exactly where Obummer is: “aside from a few recalcitrant pseudo-intellectuals in our major cities who bitterly cling to affected moral superiority, berets, cloves, and defeatism — realize that true humiliation is not to be found here but in the land of those who collapsed at Sedan, constructed Vichy France, gave birth to post-modernism, and support a powerful political party that advances socialist principles.” He is a card carrying member of this pseudo-intellectual “elite” which seeks to end U.S. power and leadership in the world and fold Western civilization into a UN led world of mendacity and mediocracy.
I head a program that teaches High School students Mandarin Chinese. Every October now, we go to China and immerse (sorry about the jargon) ourselves in the culture and language at a Chines Language School.
Talking with the Chinese teachers is interesting.
Why do you Chinese learn English? Answer: United States is THE military and economic power. While aspects of American culture are useless, your power is respected.
What about French (my Francophile wife) inquires? Answer: France and the French are relatively powerless (and they are in a death spiral). No one takes them seriously since (as above) June 1940. Their thought is decadent.
What about China and our learning Chinese? Answer: You are smart. We are still “Zhong Guo”, The Middle Kingdom. We are discarding our Socialist chains. Soon, Japan will fade: not enough young Japanese. Europe is fading: not enough young Europeans. A new Chinese Dynasty is emerging…we are the new Tigers.
And ask about Spanish? Answer: They are monkeys…ignore.
Interesting to run up against classical nationalism…
Wow! I am SO in agreement with every word you wrote!
And in the same vein I am just SICK of being told what I “should” do to relieve the “embarrassment” or the “guilt” of some left-wing, pseudo-intellectual, arrogant, elitist, pandering fool with a chip on his shoulder for how America is not living up to his “ideals”, that are for the most part, not even American in the first place, but some “feel-good” internationalist clap-trap acquired over a lifetime of associating with American-hating communists, Marxists, terrorists, racist pastors, and other assorted disturbed and UNGRATEFUL loonies, from here and abroad, that America has welcomed and given a life they couldn’t find in any other country on the planet!
I don’t want to be told I need to be bilingual.
I don’t want to be told what to drive.
I don’t want to be told how much I should drive.
I don’t want to be told to set my thermostat to 78.
I don’t want to be told to give up my legal firearm.
I don’t want to be told I need to be more circumspect of how other countries “feel” about America, when we rarely if ever get the thanks or the respect, just the blame and the distrust.
I don’t want to be told America needs to GIVE MORE to the rest of the world when we’re ALREADY the largest GIVER of foreign aid in the entire world!
I don’t want to be told America is the cause for the worlds ills, or even global warming, when the world would be a much, MUCH more cruel, sad, inhumane, and hopeless place without us…
Finally, I don’t want to be told I should vote for this inexperienced amateur and fraud to lead this great country, when I clearly see his vision of what America “should” be is not what I feel is needed for the future or… even wanted.
Splitting the difference here: I don’t like to be hectored by Obama, but I do think learning a foreign language is a valuable skill and adds to life.
I disagree with those who say French is irrelevant. Perhaps politically, but not linguistically. French is an essential part of the history of English, and learning French helps you master English. So I think it’s a good idea for English-speaking folks to learn French.
As for Spanish — it’s also good to learn Spanish, since (1) it sounds cool, and (2) a lot of folks speak it in this hemisphere.
It’s also enriching to learn any foreign language … I studied a little Mandarin, and it was fun. Found some CDs that were very effective.
So language learning … it’s great. Everyone ought to give it a try.
That said, I don’t want Obama or anyone else hectoring me or using the government to try to tell or force me into doing something that boils down to life enrichment. Like so much liberals and leftists do, it’s not always the content of what they’re saying, it’s their attempt to turn it into a government program.
Funny, I am not a real American now because I don’t speak Spanish and French very much?
This Obama is really going nuts! He knows that if you remove the English-speaking only and French-speaking only americans in the voting precint… the only remaining voters are the hispanics. Why not add Arabic in the list of official language to ensure his landslide win?
This Obama is trying rewrite, revise and remove everything, including those values that Americans treasure much.
Funny.
How fluent is obama’s french, (he admitted he don’t speak spanich much)?
If he is not American, why the hell he’s running for POTUS?
Sorry, guys, but we need lots of Americans who can speak a second language. Not for the pathetic reason that Obama says, but for national security. I don’t care about looking sophisticated to Europeans or to European-loving Americans (who are less sophisticated than they think they are). And I don’t believe in global warming. Plus, I know for a fact that lots of foreigners actually like us, though this is seldom reported by our media.
No, we need Americans who know foreign languages because we are always getting dragged into places where languages other than English are spoken. We then have to depend on either natives who know English and can translate for us or recent immigrants. Either way, we are relying on people whose loyalty to us is in question.
Someone else on a different thread pointed out another, similar reason. There are some blogs in foreign languages, and it would be nice if we had enough Americans who knew other languages that we could get our viewpoint across.
To put all this differently, we can be either isolationist or internationalist. We can cut ourselves off from the world, or we can engage with it. Engaging with it doesn’t mean that we half to accept loads of guilt, but it does mean we need to face certain realities such as that foreigners speak foreign languages and to deal with them we sometimes need to know their language (either for espionage or during war). Right now we are neither wholly isolationist nor wholly internationalist, which is not especially intelligent. If we got involved in Kazakhstan tomorrow, how many Kazakh speakers among ordinary Americans would we find? Almost none. Think about it.
By the way, I’m currently learning Arabic so as to help us fight the Islamo-fascists.
mister/ king b. hussein o. is learning every third world language he can so he can appease their leaders. when they come begging money with no strings attached. at least not to the u.s.a. he’s ready to dole out billions to the world poverty bank, build a new u.n. complex,all this with no accountability. i guess if we can’t help our own poor, then by allah, we’ll fix everyone else. TAXPAYERS!!! its time to bend over and hold your ankles. do not waste your vote.
I speak Fortran and Cobol. Do they count?
They are are near-dead languages like Spanish and French. Spanish and French will be replaced by Arabic within a generation. Fortran and Cobol have already been replaced. So shouldn’t they count?
I’m confident that Americans will get sick of this pompous, condescending, non-Spanish speaking, ignoramus long before November.
“As for Spanish — it’s also good to learn Spanish, since (1) it sounds cool, and (2) a lot of folks speak it in this hemisphere.”
Not Exactly. Seeing a Mexican, a Cuban and a Puerto Rican try to speak “spanish” to each other is almost as amusing as watching an American, a Scottsman and an Australian abusing “English” while trying to hold a conversation.
I am Southern and have the same problem understanding Ohhhhhh……BAMA. I guess if I listen close, I might understand him, but I can do that with my dog, who makes more sense.
If that analogy didn’t work for you, it’s because there was no Muslim in the boat.
BHO is a typical elitist fool. A man who speaks no foreign languages and then puts down his fellow Americans for not being able to do what he can’t do either. He is becoming tiresome.
Attacking Obama’s hypocritical snobbery is fine, but the anti-intellectual, lowbrow tone of this article disturbs me. I spent many years learning to speak two foreign languages, and I’m proud of that. As a Catholic, I’m delighted to be able to address fellow believers in their own languages.
Ignorance is not something on which to pride oneself.
Dave II: An excellent list, but you left out a big one:
I am sick of being told that Americans are benighted savages because we don’t watch soccer like the rest of the world. SOCCER IS BORING!
Sen Obama misses the point…and then the discussion devolves from there.
The issue is not whether someone is “worried” about immigrants learning to speak the language, the issue is tht immigrants should want to assimilate…and English already IS the national language.
For immigrants to come here, there should be a pronounced desire to become a part of the fabric of the country. Not to come here and demand that WE all change to fit their land of origin’s customs, language and laws. If the desire to assimilate is absent, then why would we desire the applicant’s request to reside here? (setting aside those who come here illegally, then hang their home country flag above ours and hang ours upside down)
I think it is a wonderful thing to learn a second language, (and a third, fourth and beyond)…but Sen. Obama’s fascination with Euro-Socialism and the elitist airs attendant thereto are a bit off-putting.
The “change” he and Michelle are always telling us that he is going to force us to accept…is toward the elitist, leftist, Socialist brand of Jimmy Carter meets Jacques Chirac lilypad jumping. Weaken the military, apologize for all things American, find “root causes” for blame against America and Israel and pander to enemies of state and those who seek to spit on the American flag.
Whether he is talking about the way Middle America (white, non-leftists, primarily)…who cling to guns and religion, or that corporate America is an unworthy goal, or he wants to talk to enemies without preconditions, he wants to blindly reduce the military presence WHILE IT IS SUCCEEDING in Iraq, or he is making pals with Ayers and Dorhn, or Frank Marshall Davis or Rashid Khalidi….this is a Senator (and wife/close associates) who really don’t like you very much…the change he/they are looking for…is in YOU.
It just keeps getting worse for BHO as he falls in the polls and McCain sits back and watches these gaffes.
The farthest left candidate in US history, most unqualified, connections to rogue folks and naive….sure, he’ll win! Maybe the hippies, moronic collegians and college leftist profs, removed from the world, that I saw handing out “ImpeachMints” yesterday think so, but they are not Americans.
I took a couple years each of French and German as a kid and never had the opportunity to use any of it. However, I’m grateful, because the ability to learn a language atrophies if it isn’t used.
Later, when I was in the Marines, I was stationed in Japan and learned as much of the language as I could. Why? Because it was in my selfish interest to do so. I taught some volunteer English classes, made a lot of friends who took me on trips and invited me into their homes, and even met my wife in one of the classes.
Marrying somebody from another country, with a different culture, and language can be pretty intimidating, and one of the major points in my favor was that the male members of that English class would vouch for my character. Why? Because I learned their language and respected their culture. After all, I was the guest in their country.
If I were in HS today, I would take Mandarin or one of the Middle Eastern languages (probably not Arabic if the teacher was a Koran pusher…) or Spanish on the assumption that they might be useful to me. If you will never travel anywhere, or even if you do, the language to know is English. Everything else is optional.
Listening to Obama on language is like listening to Gore on energy use. I have no use for hypocritical scolds. A man with half a brain or some semblance of sense wouldn’t say such stupid things. Those who listen are dumber still.
Paul from Hamburg: “I am sick of being told that Americans are benighted savages because we don’t watch soccer like the rest of the world.”
So, who is saying this? Certainly not Obama, is he? I thought he was a basketball fan. And certainly not the NY Times, which has never wanted to treat soccer as the equal of our sports, even though it thinks of itself as the “world’s newspaper.” And certainly not any other liberal leftist organ in this country. And certainly not the “multiculturalists,” most of whom don’t like soccer. And most Europeans don’t seem interested in sports here in America.
So, aside from us soccer fans, who are mostly on the right, who is saying this?
Does this love of things European mean that he’s discovered his inner whitey?
I agree with the folks who argue that it is good for students to study foreign languages. But Hussein O was playing the Hispanic card.
One can learn a language to talk and get around in a country but one can also learn the literary side of the language.
I do some work in Chile. The Chilean Spanish is so clipped and has different words that educated (not border types) Mexicans and Spaniards who speak Castilian can hardly communicate with educated Chileans.
When I was getting my Ph.D. we were required to pass a language exam in two languages in the following set: French, German, Russian. I do not recall that Spanish was in the set.
JPF – I totally agree!
The US could certainly use more bi/multilingual citizens – the CIA and FBI are in desperate need – wouldn’t it be nice to be able to rely on our own citizens rather than an informant who’s loyalty can be suspect?
I don’t need to be bilingual. I can get in my car, and drive for DAYS ON END and still get by perfectly fine speaking my native tongue visiting oceans, mountains, deserts,… Try that in Europe. Europeans are multi-lingual because they need to be if they ever go more than a few hours from home!
If each of these United States had a different language, I’d probably know at least 10, but the simple truth is; they don’t, and I don’t need to. And if I go to Europe on vacation and stumble a bit ordering another round of beers, well, that’s just part of the experience of going somewhere foreign – hell, it’s kinda the POINT.
And frankly, if you look at the state of education in liberal strongholds like DC, Chicago, and NYC… concentrating on literacy in English should be the priority.
Jay: Yeah, I heard Chilean Spanish is the hardest to understand for native Spanish speakers — a little like thick Scottish accents for an American English speaker, as Mr. Samford pointed out. As far as Cuban Spanish or any other derivatives of Castilian Spanish, what can I say? Why on earth would you purposely speak with a lisp? Mexicans speak Spanish correctly, IMHO
By the way, Good Ole Charlie, thanks for the story about Chinese attitudes toward other languages. The idea that Spanish speakers are monkeys reinforces my view that racism is not limited to the U.S.
JFP: You said it yourself: It is soccer fans telling me that I am supposed to like soccer. You all may be as conservative as I am, but it still drives me nuts.
For the record, the last soccer game I ever watched was the the 1994 US v Brazil World Cup. In that game, the US held Brazil scoreless in the first half, but never scored even though they had a man-advantage for the entire second half. That was it for me. Something is patently wrong with a sport where playing 11 on 11 is the same as playing 11 on 10.
Paul from Hamburg-
I couldn’t agree more. Soccer is a snooz-fest, unless you’re drunk off your ass like many in the stands.
And anon- your point:
“if you look at the state of education in liberal strongholds like DC, Chicago, and NYC… concentrating on literacy in English should be the priority”
Has my vote for the winner!! If we can’t get our OWN children to read and write well in English FIRST, we have no business telling them they need to learn spanish, much less french. In fact, forget french.
Not quite off topic, but VERY telling in Obama’s “New World” view is this picture of him speaking in DC yesterday. Notice the podium placard:
-Only 10 stars like the European Union!
-NO AMERICA on the world map at all!
http://blog.changeandexperience.com/2008/07/strategy-for-new-world-america-isnt.html
Constantly speaking now in front of a phalanx of American flags, it’s a bit like putting perfume on a pig.
Somehow the stink still comes through!
I guess that I am a real American now. I do speak French (fluently), can read Spanish and Italian, some German, Dutch, and Japanese. All this is beside the point, however.
The reality is that BO is truly ignorant of what is going on in Europe. The French are the WORST when it comes to speaking a second (much less a third or fourth) language. As a rule they do not want to learn.
That being said, several years ago a leader of a French business delegation in Brussels did speak in English. He was castigated in the French press. His response: Idiots. English is the world’s language of business.
Paul from Hamburg: I’m not going to get into whether soccer is boring, because it’s too subjective. I just say that in soccer I get World Cups and lots of other international games, open-cup tournaments, and participation that’s in the actual sport and not some watered down version of it (the way that softball is to baseball). If you don’t want that, fine.
Also, given that the rest of the world plays it, it’s helpful at least to know about it because a few political events are influenced by it (a war in Central America, a truce in the Biafran conflict, etc.). My multicultural education was gained playing with and against a bunch of foreigners at my university. It was far more instructive than the polite and genteel tripe that leftists dish out to unsuspecting young people. Actually seeing these people and how they react to tense situations is better than anything in the classroom.
Americans are dunces when it comes to speaking more than one language.
To Paul from Hamburg: I hope you at least speak German.
To Paul and to Dave II: And to anyone who does not appreciate soccer. The reason why you don’t appreciate soccer is because you are simpletons. Anything involving strategy, nuance, sophistication, style, clarity of mind, and true teamwork is too complicated to grasp. You are just ignorant and unenlightened to understand. Nothing personal.
To HT: I applaud you for speaking several languages. I take a little exception to your opinion of the French. I’ve been to France many times, in fact I just came back from France a month ago, and almost everyone I met spoke some English and were very accommodating.
It is amazing that all of you on this blog hate Obama so much. Baffling. Are all of you members of the human race or are you Klingons? Do you ever think of treating your fellow human beings (those who have a sense of humanity) as you like to be treated?
We do, J.G.. But we treat progressives with the contempt that they deserve.
First they made us learn a foreign language, next they made me clean up my room.
Pedagogically, learning foreign languages is good for education. Wow, we need someone like Bush to make us learn mangled Spanglish so we can order around our ranch hands.
Nice to see anti-intellectual blog jerks trashing France like the macho bull talking trash they are. After all, did Norway, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg do much better versus the Germans? If it wasn’t for the English Channel, the rights fave European country would have been over-run too. The British high tailed it out at Dunkirk leaving the French as the rear guard, read a history book you right wing cliche spewing drones. This blog proves that the avetrage right winger on the net these days is so mentally and morally limited that they are nothing more than semi literate juvenile delinquents with internet access.
J.G. and Javelin.
I believe that the point is lost on you. Your bile is quite misplaced. Those folks (American or not) who find the need to learn a second language do so. Case in point: I do business with a Japanese firm. I have learned enough (so far) to be able to participate in conversation. We, however, do practically ALL of our business in English to the point that they retain a translator for me.
No one here has said that learning a foreign language (and more to the point your native one) is a bad thing. There are very few who would/could disagree that it is a good thing.
I am not trashing the French and I never said that they were not accommodating. I love France and the French and pass through 2-3 time a year. In the city my wife is from (not Paris), I can think of only one person who can speak English (other than my wife, of course) and he is actually an Arab who previously worked in NYC. Not a one of her grad school profs and very few of her native colleagues have more than a passing knowledge of English even though all meaningful scientific publications and conferences are in what? – Yes English. Contrast this with the Dutch, Germans, Scandinavians, etc. and my point is clear.
In the end, the point is this, can you, me, or whoever communicate our ideas. What language is used is irrelevant in this regard. For whatever reason you wish to give, English has become the defacto language of international communication. Wishing it otherwise does not change the fact that that ship has sailed. If the accidents of history had decreed it to be Swahili, you can guarantee that everyone who wanted to work across borders would learn it no questions asked.
Riddle me this: If I moved to some small town (or even most large ones) in Mexico and did NOT learn Spanish, would I, or would I not, be considered an fool.
I have been studying language and culture for more years than I care to count and have come to the conclusion that the mantra that has been repeated for decades that if only American children will learn a foreign language, they will have more “humanity” and we will all be able to just get along. This is grade A malarkey. Did it open up a world to me and would it to others. Yes. Absolutely. But the other guys must play ball also (cf. my successful relationship with my 日本の友人). Yet, all of us learning Spanish will not, I repeat NOT, help to integrate our immigrant friends from south of the border into the fabric of American life and no amount of wishful thinking will make it otherwise.
A+ à tous.
This topic actually made it to this site? Wow! nothing gets under your guys skin (sarcasm). Obama is not saying to learn spanish to accomodate illegals and other latinos. He’s simply saying All Americans should learn a second language, be it spanish,french,italian etc. to BETTER THEMSELVES! that’s all! Leave it to a republican to turn a speech about improvement into a debate about Illegal Immigration. Americans SHOULD learn 2 or 3 languages. The language of your choice. People worldwide speak multi-languages. It’s doesn’t make you dumb to speak something other than,”American”. It makes you smarter and better. I can’t for the Life of me understand why this is even an issue.
This horse-sauce about us needing to learn other languages *to become better Americans* has no intrinsic value. Multiple languages are a blessing for an individual citizen; but a disaster for a nation.
Ask any Walloon, or Quebecois. They both speak French, after all. Surely you would expect that fact to have enriched their respective national identities.
Well, I’m sure it is “enriching.” Not counting those times when they try to separate from Flemish Belgium, or secede from Canada.
With Obamas war of hatred against America in full swing, and escalating, there isn’t a whole lot of humor going around about his presidential dreams these days. Being Americas greatest enemy from the inside isn’t anything anyone can find a happy future in. And America is only beginning to pay the price for his life in Washington DC that is still only speculation at best.
I figured it out. Those 10 stars represent the states that Ohhhh……BAMA hopes to win this November. Sort of a mini USA. I guess he has given up on the other 47.
Joke J_O_K_E that’s a joke, son.
Learning another language is wonderful in many way. And, nobody disputes that. Yes, we should encourage learning other languages. A lot of folks here mentioned the need to learn English first before learning other languages. Maybe, they should start teaching the proper use of English at Harvard. “people are going around worrying about”. Going worrying? Even for me, English as second language I can point it out.
Obama was calling for more Americans to learn more languages. He did not propose to mandate this in any way. Why are so many of you spitting mad about something this benign.
As for the hypocrisy angle on this particular issue, how is someone who failed to learn an additional language* extolling other to learn one more hypocritical than a smoker extolling others not to pick up his bad habit? IMO neither are, some here apparently disagree.
Both of the examples you give are of sections of countries defined by a separate language rather than by people choosing to learn additional languages.
* I don’t know what languages Obama speaks, but given his past I doubt he is limited to English.
Re: European football
Why does anyone care? Baseball and American football just like European football are both boring without plenty of beer. With plenty of beer and the right crowd all can be a great time. Cricket and golf on the other hand remain boring regardless of how much I drink.
Republicans, GOP, RNC have to be BRAIN DEAD if they can’t whip this into a nice issue (aside from the fact that The Obamboozler can’t speak spanish or French!): maybe the immigrants to our great country could show a “touch” of gratitude in that THEY learn the language of their homeland-of-choice – ENGLISH!
Foreign languages are wonderful – even more fun when you make mistakes sometimes! – but ENGLISH, and English in the United States of America, is our tongue…cultural terrorists aside.
Some are even trying to argue that he is the most liberal member of the Senate (as they did with Kerry) which is flat out ridiculous. This charge has been trotted out against all of the Democratic candidates for president since Stevenson, but seems always just asserted rather than explained. How does someone come to this conclusion?
Looking at this past years crop of R and D contenders on the issues it looks like Obama is about as far to the left of center as McCain is to the right of center, that is to say not all that much.
Mexicancarlos,
The problem with Obama’s banal, bloated bleating about learning languages was not that he stated the blatantly obvious that every school and teacher has told us for the last 40 years – those who can should learn a foreign language (esp. for defense..kudos JFP.)If you had read the article, Chapin points out how Obama was attmpting to be subtle, interjecting foolish non sequiters about language as an attempt to insult those who promote “English Only”, and inadvertently and hypocritically, once again, displaying his pervasive disdain for the average American. I Obama knew anything about Spanish, for example, he should know that the slogan, “Si, se puede,” is used by every socialist-Communist group in Latin America most often referring to violent Leninist overthrow of the government and social organization.
What a twit.
Mexican Carlos – Obama is not saying to learn spanish to accomodate illegals and other latinos. He’s simply saying All Americans should learn a second language, be it spanish,french,italian etc. to BETTER THEMSELVES! that’s all!
No, that is HALF of what Obamessiah said. What got him in trouble is the OTHER HALF, which insinuated that Americans should be embarassed and ashamed of themselves when all they can say is “merci beaucoup” when encountering Europeans with far superior “skills”.
That was the elitist horseshit part that rubbed the wrong way.
No one is arguing that language skills aren’t valuable except a few dumb jingoist/libertarians on this thread.
I was hired into a job in part based on cultural familiarity and intermediate language skills in two Asian countries. I took Latin as well and credit that with opening up my vocabulary….We just had a small, exclusive executive training class and aside from affirmative action blacks, and folks with one or so exceptional talent, every other candidate had conversational or above language adeptness in at least one language other than English – as they will be anticipated to be overseas for years in their careers.
************
Speaking of primitive jingoist/liberarianism, here’s Dave II doing the I/m selfish and ignorant and a proud Amuuurican act:
I don’t want to be told I need to be bilingual.
You don’t, but your kids and grandkids better strongly consider it unless they want to be menial workers.
I don’t want to be told what to drive.
Considering excess use of foreign oil hurts all Americans and endangers our security, you will be part of the effort to get us out of shipping away 700 billion dollars a year to pay for foreign energy whether you like it or not. That means you will drive something that gets good gas mileage for private or commercial activity under new CAFE standards. The Hummer line is now shut down. It is part of the old era of cheap energy that will never return.
I don’t want to be told how much I should drive.
You don’t need to be. You will pay through the nose to drive, as is, and if the Gulf is cut-off in war, you will be rationed like everyone else. With people like farmers and military being 1st in line and you and the rest of us regular people splitting what is left.
I don’t want to be told to set my thermostat to 78.
The problem is, your “right” to be an energy hog isn’t rooted in any scrap of paper or right given to you from God. Right now, and in the past, Americans have died to keep access to resources available to all Americans, only to see a good part of that squandered by pigs that imagine the right to be proflagite as an “American Freedom”. It is not. It may be very soon that it will be considered patriotic and doing your proper duty as a citizen to turn that thermostat down to 55-60 degrees in the winter and up to 80 in the summer.
I don’t want to be told to give up my legal firearm.
In the context of the present and growing energy crisis, I don’t know what you mean. Perhaps the right to wave it around if we slap a buck a gallon tax on foreign import oil, or go to 55 mph again, or go with odd-even or even more stringent rationing???
I don’t want to be told I need to be more circumspect of how other countries “feel” about America, when we rarely if ever get the thanks or the respect, just the blame and the distrust.
We live in an interconnected world. It behooves us to stay true to our core American principles that may get us grief, but respect – as opposed to the expediency, double standards, hyocrisy and export of purient aspects of our culture that gain us no real friends or more respect.
I don’t want to be told America needs to GIVE MORE to the rest of the world when we’re ALREADY the largest GIVER of foreign aid in the entire world!
We aren’t. On a per capita basis, as a percentage of GNP, we are fairly miserable by advanced nations standards. Also, a good part of our foreign aid is military, tied to goods our defense establishment is happy taxpayers buy for someone else. Worse, almost half our
foreign aid is controlled by the powerful Israel Lobby, which ensures almost the majority of our foreign aid is sent to 1st World, wealthy Israel and its “Camp David” welfare partner Egypt.
Even when you factor charities in, you find the money is sent to only a few nations, and the bulk of the charitable giving remains in the US for salaries and fundraising efforts. And the effect of “America opening it’s heart up” like in the Tsunami, with non-cash donations of unwanted items cleaned out of closets and pantries – was ships full of overcoats, out of style pantsuits, and cans of pork and beans donated for tax write-offs and all but unusable by the people in need.
Can someone explain to me how learning a second language “betters” a person? An asshole that learns 2, 3 or even more languages is still an asshole.
Couple observations:
1) I don’t believe Obama is fluent in any languages besides English, so he should just STFU (and someone ought to call him on it; does McCain speak another language? I do.)
2) I think you could find a job on the basis of knowing Cobol or Fortran a lot easier than knowing French, so I wouldn’t be quite so fast to declare them obsolete. French, well…
HT and wm- Right on! Look, I have NOTHING against someone wanting to learn a 2nd language IF THEY WANT TO, go for it…I just don’t like the idea of my “inability” or lack of desire, “embarrassing” someone that is running to represent ALL AMERICANS. It’s elitist and condescending of him to say that, especially when he doesn’t even speak a 2nd language himself! It’s all too reminiscent of his “clinging to religion and guns” statement.
Being bilingual is a wonderful thing, but NOBODY should be looked down on because they DON’T speak another language other than english…just like I don’t look down on someone that speaks only spanish.
And I do speak from experience. My wife is a Filipina…and would I benefit from learning Tagalog? Sure, you bet…but it is a hard language to master, and I personally have a hard time learning languages…so other than a few words, I haven’t, but fortunately…she speaks very good English. (They actually teach english in all their schools in the Phillipines.)
Even here where I live, in Southern California, you have whole neighborhoods and cities with nothing but spanish, chinese, korean, or vietnamese on their signs. It’s that way in many large cities across America. Doesn’t make them less American, or any less able to do business as they see fit, as most know how to speak some English…though it does make it less likely or near impossible that I, as an English only speaker, will do business there, but so what??? They survive (or fail) based on their own community identity, and that’s just fine…
As a voter, you have to be an AMERICAN citizen, NOT a citizen of THE WORLD! And as much as Obama would like us all to be better WORLD CLASS citizens…I’m sorry, I’m just happy being a first-class American citizen, and that’s all I really need to be.
Want to see the “world citizen” Obama in action next week running for President IN EUROPE????
It will be a HOOT and a HOLLER, and COMPLETELY and TOTALLY irrelevent except in his own mind, and the impressionable minds of his followers who will be amazed and astounded with the crowds he attracts.
Big whoop…don’t mean squat! They can’t VOTE!!!
cedarford, WOW! One of the best responses I have ever read, no joke. Basically, your beef isn’t with Obama’s Message, but the way he convyed it, right? I agree, At times he does sound arrogant. FYI I don’t like Obama, and will Not vote for a man who isn’t qualified. I don’t believe in Affirmative action. I believe the Presidency, If only the presidency, should be the best man for the job. Be the candidate white, black, latino, asian etc. That is Americas most important Job. It affects each and everyone of us. From the highest paid, to the welfare recipiants. I don’t care if there isn’t a President of color for the Next 150 years! if there isn’t any viable candiate of color, then we shouldn’t force the issue. Which is what is clearly happening with Obama. I mean the man barely became a senator for integrities sake.
P.s
For those of you who oppose Americans being taught Second languages using American Tax dollars, you’re late. America has been using your Tax Dollars to teach american kids foreign Languages for Years! It’s called Second period French.
“The idea that Spanish speakers are monkeys reinforces my view that racism is not limited to the U.S.”
JFP, racism in USA is nothing compared to racism in China, in Saudi Arabia, or in Russia. OH, did I mention Turkey and their racism? Or the awful jokes about Kurds among Iraqi arabs? Or the Persian Gulf which arabs call Arab gulf? Or ………………
However I do agree, americans need to learn languages………..chinese, arabic, farsi and (probably)spanish.
BTW if you think that arabic has not dialects – think again. Moroccans can hardly understand Syrians and Syrians would have some trouble understanding Algerians There is also gulf arabic, iraqi arabic, egyptian arabic and so on and so forth.
JB
I am looking from outside at your election and really …..what Obama said was not as benign as you present it, try to read again what he really said and how he said it.
Also if he really wants americans to learn languages why didn’t he mention the languages USA citizens really need to learn (non-european ones ) but got stuck in euro-centricity?
cedarford- thanks for pointing out my “selfish and ignorant and a proud Amuuurican act”. At least I don’t have to stand behind a phalanx of flags to say I’m “embarrassed” about my fellow Americans!
As for some of your other points:
My kids and grandkids will be free to do what they want. They don’t need their President telling them how to “better” themselves (let’s see if Obama makes HIS kids learn a 2nd language…I doubt it!).
What I drive will be dictated by the market. They don’t make it, then I can’t buy it!
If I can’t afford the price of gas to drive…I drive less, yes. If the air conditioner becomes too expensive to run…I turn it off from time to time.
Let the market determine what energy and oil should cost, by getting CONGRESS out of the way of letting AMERICANS tap the resources in AMERICA so we don’t have to import so much and NOT SEND our dollars to foreign countries.
Is drilling here the answer to everything? Of course not…but it is ONE that NEEDS to be done, and SOONER rather than ANOTHER 10 years from now….
Of course, with Obama, $4-5 a gallon gas is not a problem for him…gosh, even $10 a gallon! What does he care…he doesn’t have to buy it! Besides…we are all “citizens of the world” and they are all paying $9-10 a gallon for gas…why shouldn’t we???
Fair is fair in the mind of Obama!
Cedarford:
Why don’t you make your point about exporting purient culture in the LA Times? And as for the tsunami aid, those aircraft carriers Bush deployed had water purification systems and the ability to deliver supplies to areas totally cut off from land transportation. When help was most needed, the US was there and the help was effective. And please don’t try to tell me that no Europeans cleaned their closets to help. I saw the self-congratulatory TV reports. I also saw some young Indian IT types who were organizing assistance efforts because they were inspired examples they had seen in the US.
Barack Obama is a pompous ass and undoubtedly speaks little or no French or Spanish. It also obvious that immigrants to this country should be required to learn English.
BUT… one of the best ways for native English speakers (indeed native speakers of all languages) to understood the structure of their own language is to master a foreign one. It is a truly important mental discipline.
Thanks so much all for reading and commenting. Allow me to clarify a few points:
1. There is nothing wrong with learning another language, but Obama should not be looking down on his own people should they choose not to do so.
2. Given his position, Obama should realize that French is the last language an American should learn in 2008. The other languages I mentioned are more pertinent in light of current affairs.
3. Obama is a hypocrite in lieu of his monolingual status and his contempt reveals that he sees the citizenry as wards.
4. Something overlooked here is that there is an opportunity cost to learning a new language –particularly if you’re in your late 30s as am I. I read about 70 to 100 books a year and this habit would promptly end if I acquired Spanish. It’s labor intensive and would automatically eliminate the time I had to study other topics (unless I suddenly win the lotto lol).
4. Some of us, myself included, resent being automatically disqualified from employment as a result of not being bilingual. In our view, the country should not change in a way that results in discrimination against those who are native born.
5. Lastly, France lost in 1940 as a result of cultural and characterological collapse along with dismal military leadership. France had the strongest army in the world throughout most of the 30s, and had they assumed a more aggressive posture they could have assured stalemate or at least destroyed most of Hitler’s industrial base in September of 1939. They refused to bomb his munitions factories and would not even bomb the endless columns of tanks he assembled in the Ardennes in the days before they were assailed. Further, mentioning other countries–even England!–in the context of that land battle is a red herring. The British Expeditionary Force was comprised of 200,000 men; whereas, the French had nearly 6 million at their disposal. They had just as many tanks as the Germans but did not deploy them correctly so it was France’s battle to lose and they duly lost it. Ernest R. May’s “Strange Victory” is an excellent account of the conflict’s dynamics. May illustrates that most of the elite French units saw no or little fighting due to improper placement by Gamelin and a refusal to create a strategic reserve. Reynaud conceded defeat to Churchill on the phone 5 days in.
It´s compelling how in this comment section Obama encouraging Americans to learn other languages somehow is an example of his “war against America”. Not surprising, though, considering how I learned from another post here that college is nothing but a waste of money. It is interesting to observe this blatant anti-intellectualism.
That being said, Obama should not be embarrased when he goes to France. Because the French are notorious for their bad language skills. That´s also why French is indeed a useful language for other Europeans – or Americans who deal much with Europe. Don´t fool yourself into thinking otherwise.
I, myself, speak and write English (although clearly not good enough yet), in addition to German and Scandinavian.
When you come from a small country, knowing more languages is obviously quite important. To get a good job you need to know English, and a third language is often important as well. But it is also incredibly fun to know the native language when you travel in a foreign country (this is why I´m gonna learn French). And I´m sure for Americans, languages like Chinese and Arabic are useful assets.
If you need to make a fuzz about this (I assume you do because of the race), why not focus on the way he said it, rather than dismissing the concept of learning languages. That way you wouldn´t come off as…..whoop´s, sorry, forgot that you don´t care about that;)
Just to clarify: It should be “because of the presidential race
His language of choice, Spanish, shows clearly that he’s pandering to a large voting block and it isn’t Albanians. So dump him but keep the advice. We really do need to be able to jibberjabber in Chinese, Russian, Arabic (unfortunately!), not so we can get all kumbaya with them, but so as better to keep them out of our hair. And not that Sen. Joy To The World cares about this, but French and Latin would help us better understand our own civilization.
Cheer up, kids. I’d give my eye teeth to be able to read Tolstoy and Puskin and so on in the original.
Lot of truth to those who say Europeans and others learn multi languages because they have to. If/when Americans need to learn another language they do/will.
When I hear the multiculturalism crowd talk about how racist or xenophobic (or whatever their complaint) it is to expect immigrants to learn English, the story of the Tower of Babel comes to mind. In it God uses multilingualism as a means to punish man for his arrogance in trying to build a tower that would reach heaven. In order to thwart the planned tower, God disrupted mankind’s unity by confusing their common unifying language, which in turn led to the disconnection and scattering of mankind over the earth. What makes the story relevant to today, at least to me, is that this ancient parable accepted as a premise the idea that a common language unites and strengthens a society. Why is it so hard for so many people today to grasp that simple point?
My Puerto Rico-born mother learned English and insisted on English only in her home, so that her children could succeed in this country. My limited spanish tongue alienates me from other fluent spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans. But my fluent English tongue unites me with my fellow Americans with whom I feel a much stronger allegiance. The end result of my upbringing is to not identify as PuertoRican-American or Irish-American (my father’s roots) or Puerto-Rican-Irish American, but simply American. And isn’t that the whole point of coming to America, to BECOME an American? I sense that in today’s glorified multi-cultural climate, the answer is often no. What does that suggest about the future cohesiveness of this nation?
Some are even trying to argue that he is the most liberal member of the Senate (as they did with Kerry) which is flat out ridiculous.
Jeb @Jul 16, 2008 – 6:29 pm
You have Obama’s paper trail to show otherwise?
Name some major bi-partisan legislatures he wrote or sponsored as the Senator from IL, his Illinois state record, and his own opinions on actual cases.
Not the list from the law firm he worked for, his own. Not the questionaire his staffer filled out for him, but his own. Make his records from 1997 to 2000 in Illinois legislature available to the public.
We will debate if he is the most liberal or not from those materials.
Nina Carlotti @Jul 16, 2008 – 8:36 am
…but the anti-intellectual, lowbrow tone of this article disturbs me…Ignorance is not something on which to pride oneself.
You are putting down your fellow citizens and the author of this article just as Obama did. Peopel made the point that they don’t need higherup mandate to be forced to speak a second language is, according to you, ‘anti-intellectual’ and ‘proud of our ignorance’.
In the olden days, sailors at different port of calls can speak several lauguages, but I wouldn’t call them the height of intellectualism, either.
Akatsukami and ALP
Ding, ding, ding, ding….We have equal winners.
Whatever language you speak, I am disturbed by the disrespectful words I recently read on a bumper sticker on the back of a poor person’s rusty pickup truck in Ohio.
B.O. stinks.
The good Senator and the beautiful Michelle should not to exposed to such classless rudeness. I can’t wait for President Obama to reinstitute the capital gains tax on profit from all home sales. This will stick it to the low class Republicans wherever they live, where it hurts most: in the pocketbook. It’s the kind of change that progressives such as I believe in. Those mouth breathing Republican don’t even deserve to have enough money to drive to the polls.
Peepers: you need glasses for your peepers. NO WAY is “beautiful” Michelle beautiful. Rather horsey and homely, IMHO.
Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder, eh? I agree.
Honey Bunch, cast your lustful eyes on BHO…I’d be interested in your opinion.
HINT: My dear democratic grandmother would stuff him full of pasta.
And – oh yeah – get a life and stop the fantasy world…
The accusation (if that is the appropriate word) keeps being made with no support. The claim that he is the most liberal candidate to run for president was made again in this post with absolutely no support. Calling BS on unsupported allegations does not require extensive support. Making those claims is what requires support. If I make an allegation about McCain it is my obligation to support it, not your obligation to prove it wrong.
Boxer, Feinstein, Kennedy, Levin, McCaskill, Murray and a few others are all near to Obama or slightly to his left on most major issues facing us today. This was true before Obama and McCain both started to tack to the center for the general. The most liberal X is always brought out to scare the R base and if Clinton had won the primary we would no doubt be told by these same people how she was the most liberal person ever to run for president and how she is the most liberal member of the senate. It is ridiculous.
Nice satire peepers. (How do you do a thumbs up graphic?)
To Cedarford: The American people (private citizens) give billions of dollars to aid those in need IN ADDITION TO what the US government gives. So if you add that money to what the US government gives we outgive every other country by an even larger margin. Why do the liberal media, Hollywood, and commie professors brainwash you people into being ashamed of America when America is more “good” than any other nation on earth? It’s mostly Christians and Jews who give and donate their time to help others all over the world. It’s the Judeo-Christian values from the Bible that laid the foundation for our nation and our laws and our freedom that the world has looked up to and sought to copy. That’s why people from all over the world risk everything to come here to live. If it’s so horrible, why do people from all over the world continuously want to relocate here? You’ve been brainwashed by the liberal Democrat controlled mainstream media. Why do you liberals want to train society to depend on the government for everything instead of depending upon themselves? Why do you want a welfare society where the govt does everything and the people sit on the couch, watch trash TV, collect their welfare check, live in taxpayer-funded housing, eat taxpayer-funded food, get taxpayer-funded grants, DEMAND free healthcare (expensive and paid for by taxpayers) and act indignant if someone should suggest that they pay for it even though they chose to neglect their health by not exercising, eating right, smoking, and drinking with the money they didn’t have to spend on food? I’ve seen a video that shows these people on http://www.freemarketcure.com complaining that they can’t believe in the USA the govt doesn’t pay for their healthcare, but all the while they’re working and being paid under the table and not paying any taxes but they have money for cigarettes, cell phones, and eating out! Unbelievable leaches! The liberal Democrats pander to them so they are assured that the whining, entitlement crowd will vote their ass back in again because the hate-America, whining, entitlement crowd knows they want to keep the federal $ rolling in. The taxpayers (me) lose. Why do you liberals want the government to control everything? If the government takes over and does all the charitable giving, the people will stop giving on their own and will let the government take care of that too. Plus the government won’t do it as efficiently as the private citizen and it will become a big bureaucratic hole that billions disappear in. That’s what you Democrats like best. The government should think for us, clothe us, feed us, house us, control the schools, control healthcare, control the “big bad” oil industry; control guns so only the government and criminals will have protection; control what lightbulb we buy; control speech by creating “hate crimes” laws that are really designed to silence people’s free speech so they can’t say homosexuality is a sinful destructive lifestyle or that abortion is murdering an innocent human baby; punishing a criminal more severely not based on the crime, but based on the perceived intention of the criminal and whether or not it was a “hate crime”- this is to give homosexuals more rights than heterosexuals. No crime is a “love” crime so all crimes should be punished the same.
They want to legislate “green” so that they can control us and tax us and waste the billions of our tax dollars on some false initiative. The liberal Democrats are fully duped by the global warming environmental religion thing because it is their god since they’ve legislated the real God out of America. Their environmentalist religion doesn’t have a god who will judge them one day so that’s why they like that religion. Guess what, you can’t control the universe. No matter how many fuel wasting concerts and shows you liberal Hollywooders put on that all the supposed “green conscious” “stars” and politicians travel to in fuel guzzling jets and Escalade’s. They have the biggest energy sucking houses (Gore included), live the most wasteful, lavish lifestyles all while they shame the Republicans for not being “green” enough. They have gourmet foods flown in every day or they fly to go to dinner for crying out loud! And the lightbulb they push has Mercury in it so if the lightbulb breaks you have a hazardous materials situation on your hands and the environment is contaminated. Gore is not a scientist. He’s a sly politician who is getting rich off of the carbon credit program he and his environmentalist liberal religionists devised. What does it do the lessen carbon emissions? Absolutely nothing. The rich liberals just throw money into a pot and pretend like the carbon they just released didn’t really happen. So they feel better and can act like they’re better than those who aren’t carried away on the Global Warming alarmist train. What a joke! And all the while Al Gore and the Global Warming alarmists have financial interest in the company, so they get even richer!
Here’s the link that illustrates that Barack Obama is the most far left candidate
http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/
He was number 1 in 2007. Basically, with the internet, we do something that’s called “hyperlinking” whereby we embed the link into words we write and eschew footnotes. If you look in the first sentence under “far left” it is in blue and underlined. That’s a hyperlink. You hit it and then the article windows out.
There’s the link that illustrates that Barack Obama is the most far left candidate
http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/
He was number 1 in 2007. Basically, with the internet, we do something that’s called “hyperlinking” whereby we embed the link into words we write and eschew footnotes. If you look in the first sentence under “far left” it is in blue and underlined. That’s a hyperlink. You hit it and then the article windows out.
Jeb @ Jul 17, 2008 – 1:57 pm
You still did not prove your point.
Mr. Chapin,
A few points for you:
1. You said, “Barack Obama, the most far-left major party candidate to ever run for the presidency” and used the national journal ranking as your evidence. At absolute best (if the methodology of NJ exercise is appropriate) it would be evidence that Obama was among the most liberal current senators, not the most liberal person to run for the presidency. The link did not provide proof of your assertion.
2. Every four years the votes carefully selected by this partisan organization seem to point to whichever democrat is running being the most liberal. Is Obama really more liberal than Kennedy? or the self described socialist Sanders? If you really think so you must be living in a different world than most.
3. Many of the votes NJ chose were repeat votes on the same issue (several minimum wage votes, several SCHIP votes, over a dozen votes on Iraq and immigration reform, etc) artificially inflating select issues.
4. Let’s look at some of the votes that are defined as liberal.
Requiring more thorough screening of cargo = liberal.
Not means testing Medicare recipients = liberal.
Allowing importation of cheaper prescription drugs = liberal.
Blocking individuals with conflicts of interest from serving on FDA drug advisory panels = liberal.
Allowing DC residents to vote for president = liberal.
Preventing trucks not meeting US safety standards from operating on US roads = liberal.
Barring transportation security cards for certain convicted felons = liberal.
5. Positions with greater than 60% popular support are categorized as liberal. In this context, what does liberal mean other than associated with democratic support regardless of where the public stands?
The labels liberal and conservative are contextually based as they relate to distance from the political center. Most Americans would be considered quite conservative in the Netherlands (or the world at large) and quite liberal in Iran or Saudi Arabia.
Re: Jeb@Jul 18, 2008 – 10:42 am
You’ve done your homework. But others could play the same kind of word game.
Let’s see. Obama is applying for the job as the next President of the United States. In order to distinguish himself from the other also-rans, he portraits himself as the new kind of politician: one who is not only not beholden to the old partisan politics, he is going to change that type of politics. He also ran the Uniter meme, not only he is going to UNITE the two sides, he’s going to heal our nation.
Yet nothing in his record showed that kind of new politics. In fact, his old records may not be available, because he doesn’t keep them.
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/11/14/news/doc473b8492b009e593715711.txt
The campaign said Illinois agencies have copies of his requests for information or help, but accessing those records would involve contacting the agencies and asking them to comb though eight years of records to find correspondence from Obama. Why didn’t the job applicant have those records prepared and made ready in advance?
Anything that could be traced to the man himself, turned out to be not his own. [See my comment @Jul 17, 2008 - 11:52 am] Supposedly he is a Constitutional Law scholar, yet there is no evidence of his opinions/writings on major issues on any of the rulings.
On point four of Your list, which one concerns any of the hot-button issues that divided the liberal and the conservative side? Name one instance that he reached a compromise.
Essentially we have a job applicant thin on the resume, so we are down to the candidate’s own words of trusting his judgment. Obama’s judgment is another long post, which I will spare you at the moment.
For the rcord, we do not judge Obama by this one example. I. e., Obama encouraging 2nd language = Obama’s war against America.
We rubes may not have Ph.D.s or -ologist, etc. after our names, but we can spot an America-hating elitist without fail.
Jeb is a perfect portrait of the leftist. Readers please note the way
1. He copies the way I numbered my statements but did not respond to them directly because his mind is not logical.
2. The fellow offers no evidence whatsoever of his own but instead quibbled with mine. This is in keeping with their habits. I offered two citations in the article–from ACU and the National Journal. He offers none. It is he and not I who makes “assertions.” Leftists want us to do research for them but it’s up to them to find counter-evidence. National Journal isn’t good enough for him. Well, what is he countering with? Gibberish.
3. Leftists obfuscate which is what Jeb does here. None of his comments remotely matter. It’s perfectly obvious that Obama is a far leftist. Whether he is farther left than Sanders is irrelevant, but, yes, I think he is due to his connections with the likes of ACORN, Wright and Pfleger. Yet it matters not. He’s a far leftist either way.
4. What is Jeb’s position? That Obama’s a moderate. Then come out and say it. If he won’t say that than all of his objections are baseless.
5. Obama is the most far left big party candidate for the presidency in my view. Who was farther left? Not Clinton, not Carter, not JFK they all ran as moderates. McGovern would be a suitable objection, but apart from him I can’t think of any nominee in history as radical as Obama. Can you?
6. I don’t ever call the likes of you “liberal.” You’re anti-liberal or pseudo-liberal. You’re leftists first and euphemisms thereafter. There’s nothing liberal about any of you, period.
Mr. Chapin,
First, wow. I will address your numbered comments in order.
1. I was responding to your comment of July 17, 18:22. That comment was not numbered. Numbering lists is a generic convention, not something I needed to copy from you. Inability or unwillingness to recognize this is a failure on your part not mine.
2. You made the assertion that Obama was the most liberal candidate to run for the presidency therefor the burden of proof rests with you not me. The support you offered failed on two fronts. First it did not support your assertion and secondly the NJ article you referenced was partisan hackery rather than actual proof of anything. If I linked an article from the Nation purporting to prove that McCain was a doddering fool you would be correct to discount it.
3. “Whether he is farther left than Sanders is irrelevant”
It is not irrelevant to the assertion made by the NJ. It would in fact be a direct contradiction of their conclusion.
4. My position is that your assertion was partisan hackery poorly supported by more partisan hackery. Obama is left of the American political center, but his positions are well within the mainstream of American politics.
5. “Obama is the most far left big party candidate for the presidency in my view.” Your statement with the caveat ‘in my view’ is of course acceptable.
Like the others you mention Obama is running as a moderate, as do virtually all presidential candidates regardless of their politics. Bush is a recent example of a partisan running as a centrist.
6. You know next to nothing about my political positions, so any label you chose to label me with (or deny me) is done out of ignorance, but by all means call me what you will if it makes you feel better.
Since you somehow felt I was responding to your earlier (numbered) comment I will do so here.
1. Your objection here rests with your perception of his tone. I submit that your perception of his tone is strongly colored by your previous perception of him as a condescending elitist as my perception is colored by my perception of his as reasonable.
2. French and Spanish were examples of languages to learn and not meant to be exhaustive so this objection is just silly.
3. Recognizing a personal failing and not wanting your children or other children to succumb to that failing is not in itself a personal failing. As an analogy, a smoker who urges others not to succumb to his bad habit has not morally failed in that urging.
4. The only jobs you are likely to be disqualified from for failure to know an additional language are those that require communication with speakers of another language. I was not qualified to work on the Japanese tour buses when I lived in HI because I did not speak Japanese. Workers in Japan (or Europe) are not qualified to work on American tour buses unless they speak English. Being bitter about this or similar situations is silly and on par with be bitter about not being qualified to be a research scientist or attorney because you don’t have the requisite degrees of knowledge.
5. This is entirely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
It would be difficult to find some to the right of me. i consider public schools, a state religion that need to be a abolished. the IRS and income tax in general is evil. the government has no right to know what your income is or how you earn it. Abortion is murder, its supporters will suffer the same fate the supporters of slavery met. SSI should be voluntary 100%. ok, that is right wing, and SNOBama, the typical American professor, or TAP, would make a horrible anything, let alone president. He could not run a hot dog cart at a profit.
That be said, the fascist portion of the American Mussolini right, border morons, are simply stupid and uneducated. As is anyone that believes in protectionism and thinks they are educated when they speak but one ugly idioma, English. If you are not multilingual, you are simply an uneducated peon. You deserve no consideration, and neither does your anti immigration idiocy..
Bastnte de los facista idiotas
Upon reading many of the blogs posted here, I must clarify something.
Most Americans agree with the lofty words and visions for world peace that Obama so eloquently pontificates in his speeches … It’s Obama we don’t trust. those of you who hypnotically fawn over Obama take everything he says as gospel. But, you don’t even know the man. You assume that because his words are worthy, he is trustworthy. People they are just words! Obama, the man who is speaking those words has a horrible track record. He did nothing as a senator. He spent the last 20 years accepting an anti-American racist as his mentor. His associations have been with extremely unsavory people. However, you Obamabots keep trying to characterize the rest of us as disagreeing with what Obama says … when it’s Obama himself we don’t trust … nor should you!
From Dave II, “And in the same vein I am just SICK of being told what I “should” do to relieve the “embarrassment” or the “guilt” of some left-wing, pseudo-intellectual, arrogant, elitist, pandering fool with a chip on his shoulder for how America is not living up to his “ideals”…..”
What he said.
You may want to reconsider your stance that Europe is irrelevant based on its “doomed economy.” Perhaps you’ve forgotten that the Euro is worth almost double the dollar now? As difficult as it is to admit, we’re the ones in trobule, not Europe. This isn’t based in political or intellectual arguments, just simple math. The euro, and the economy on which its based, is worth considerably more than the dollar. Even the Canadian dollar is worth the same as the US dollar now. So maybe Obama is on to something.
I have read this article twice and cannot find the headline that states: Obama: Real Americans Speak French and Spanish. AM I BLIND??? Where did Obama say that EXACTLY??
But with that said, I think that many here actually have the “smarts” to understand what Obama meant by what is printed here. He just used those two languages to illustrate his main point (which the author apparently missed). It is a known fact that being bi and tri-lingual makes the brain quicker and smarter. And of course, it would behoove us to offer our students Chinis qualified to teach these languages and would our students actually sign up to learn them? I think a few would, but the monetary cost would be too great for the small numbers who would. In the high school where I teach, we had to drop German and Latin due to lack of interest. And to be honest, I can just imagine if those three were offered here. None would fly …and WHY??? Learning langages is HARD and most Americans don’t want to spend time doing so. PLUS the way we go about it is totally assinine, for we Americans have always treated learning a second language as the the step-child in education. Our children do not begin learning it at 5 or 6 when their brains are ready and open for it, and it is not a continual process!Then add to this, for the most part, no literature of the language is being read, only short boring exercises, grammar and phrases needed if they travel. And to me, any language cannot be fully appreciated or remembered when it is taught like that.
And I agree with Obama in a way that is it IS an embarrassment at times that we Americans speak only one language, esp. since the world is getting smaller every year. It is ego-centric attitude that pervades this country and has for years. We think the world revolves around us (and does up to a point), and we think there is no need to learn another. YES it is true that English (American) is language of business and the internet, but we cannot dismiss the benefits of learning another one.
Kudos to those who saw the true meaning of what he said, but Dave II, it is people like YOU who will make our country and the planet a disaster for our children… heaven forbid you SACRIFICE anything!!! PFFFFT
I don’t think you, the blogger, understand the bigger picture, which is surprising, given how intelligent you sound. It is generally known around the world that Americans have an attitude of global self-centeredness and THAT is what is embarassing. We seem to expect all other nations to learn “our” language, while we smugly decide that we shouldn’t have to return the favor. THAT is why much of Europe sees us as rude and obnoxious. Barack wasn’t implying that we should learn French because the French have so much to teach us! He was suggesting that we put ourselves out a little and learn another method of communicating with others from a different country. America is unique in it’s world view, because we don’t share borders with other countries who speak other languages, as Europe does. Even Canadians speak two languages, for pity’s sake! We need to grow out of our complacent, self-satisfied attitude and try to meet other’s halfway.
Learning a foreign language is best put to work by traveling and living in other countries. Classroom study is only a starting point. Most Americans have a poor understanding of what it is like to be from another country, and American disinterest in other cultures is offensive. The world has caught up to America in technology, political power and wealth. The present state of the American economy shows it a poor model for the world.
There will be enough immigrants from all over the world to supply America with foreign language skills. As important as it may be to speak another language, excelling in science and math has greater long term utility. America needs to fully fund NASA, achieve impossible breakthroughs in physics, and to collaborate in space exploration projects wherever possible.
Someone should ask obama what
TAK
means!
How about shukriya?
And WHAT language/languages are they?
And *****WHAT***** does BILINGUAL mean? I always thought it was made up of TWO parts! BI=TWO! Lingual(having to do with language or tounge) So it’s STANDARD, HISTORIC, PROPER meaning is having to do with, or able to speak, two languages. It says NOTHING about spanish.
I AGREE that people should be able to speak more than one language. I can speak SIX to some degree. BTW the average school only teaches 5(and I speak 4 of those to some degree) But governments should DEMAND a standard subset. In mexico/spain/etc… it is ONE(SPANISH)! In switzerland it is 4(German, French, Italian, Rhetto Romansche(sp?)), and I think you need to be able to speak TWO to be a representative in government.
So the US should demand English. Who should complain? If the spanish speakers don’t want to learn English, they can go to Mexico!
BTW in case you are curious, those terms both mean “thanks” and are in Danish and Hindi, two languages NOT taught in most American Schools.
BTW One site says English is spoken by about 1.1Billion People. When you figure that the US has 330 Million, and there is Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, and some other places that speak it as the MAIN national language, and places like India that recognize it as a psuedo national language(Next to maybe hindi(estimated 180 million), English(90 million) may be by far the most widely spoken language in India! Apparently, Telagu is the #2 native language(77 million)), and places like Europe where it is a popular second language, etc… that may sound LOW! So why shouldn’t they learn english?
Anyway, if Obama can’t even answer the first 2 questions here, he has no point! There are hundreds of languages spoken just in LA, CA, so expecting us to learn them all is ridiculous! BTW English is perhaps the most common language in kenya. What languages does OBAMA speak?
People should be bi-lingual, lazy small-minded bastards. Go out an learn something, you indoctrinated, monkey-see monkey-do, conformists.
How long is it going to take for America to realize how insane these liberals are? Obama wants to build Mamby Pamby Land where all his sheeple can bleat to each other in a gazillion languages! How crazy is that when we have English which is the best language in the world spoken by the best country in the world? The Declaration of Independence wasn’t written in Spanish, French, Russian, etc. It was written in English.