I distinctly remember Obama telling us how embarrassed he is because we uncouth Americans aren't fluent in French and German. Remember that?
I believe his exact words were, "We should have every child speaking more than one language. You know, 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,' right?"
And so Obama went on a tour of the Middle East and Europe to set an example for the rest of us, the unwashed bitter clingers of the American hinterlands, of how to behave in polite company.
He had an interesting discussion with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq—in English. And then he met with the King of Jordan and had an in-depth discussion of Middle Eastern affairs—in English.
After that, Obama displayed his credentials as a diplomat and statesman by offending our allies, the Israelis. In a blazing example of what not to do, Obama had his staffers plaster the police barricades at the Western Wall, the most holy site in Israel, with campaign posters.
I suppose we should give him some points, though. The campaign posters that desecrated the holy site were printed in Hebrew.
Obama performed the traditional ritual of tucking a prayer into a crevice between the stones of the ancient wall—but exhibited his self-centeredness by praying only for himself and not for the peace of Jerusalem.
In Berlin, Obama spoke to a crowd of nearly a quarter-million that had gathered earlier to hear a concert. He treated the Germans to a rather lengthy and boring history lesson—in English.
And in Paris, Obama held a joint appearance with French President Sarkozy in which he complimented Sarkozy—in English. Not even a merci beaucoup, if you will!
At every stop, Obama reportedly discussed "climate change" and other urgent matters. Hmmm… he must have missed last week's report by a former NASA scientist who informed us that the UN computer models are deeply flawed, used inaccurate data, failed to take into account the effect of the sun on the earth and that, in fact, there is no man-made "global warming".
Ah, well, a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders can't expected to be on top of everything—even if it is the main topic of his discussions with a half-dozen world leaders.
But I think the thing that stood out most in everyone's mind was the embarrassing amount of verbal stumbling exhibited by the man who would be president. Rush Limbaugh managed to fill an seven-minute tape with Obama's er's and ah's.
It would appear that the man who raises his voice in soaring rhetoric when he's reciting a memorized speech or reading from a teleprompter cannot think on his feet and has great difficulty forming an intelligent sentence when left to his own devices.
In fact, left to his own devices, Obama isn't quite certain how many states make up this great nation of ours. Is it 57? No, wait, it's 58!
For years, liberals have ridiculed President Bush and have been known to utter of Obama, "It will be nice to have someone in the White House who can speak!"
Is this really what they had in mind? No, thanks! Er, I mean, non, merci!
© 2008 by Libbi Adams. All rights reserved.
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