Posted on 7/10/2008, 1:42:49 PM by ElkGroveDan
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama lamented legislative pushes to make English the official language of the United States and said Americans should instead focus on making sure their children learn Spanish at a recent campaign stop.
“I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only,” Obama told supporters in Powder Springs, Georgia on Tuesday. “Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with this. 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.”
He continued his thoughts by expressing embarrassment at Americans’ language skills compared to the Europeans. “You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual,” he said. “We should have every child speaking more than one language. 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 beacoup, right?”
Obama has consistently opposed making English the official language. As an Illinois senator, Obama voted against a measure to make English the official language of the United States in June 2007. He was one of 34 senators who voted against the measure.
At a Democratic primary debate Obama said he thought it was nothing more than a wedge issue. "This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us," he said. He also called the issue a "distraction" a word he commonly uses to describe controversial issues. Obama remarked, "When we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people."
discussed yesterday
here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042925/posts
and here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2042899/posts
How many languages does Obama speak?
No habla espanol, you POS......................
Ebonics (when in da hood) and Bullsh*t when in front of a crowd.
Chinga tu madre Obama!
Obama no puede incluso hablar español. Porqué debe él criticar el resto del país? ¡Inglés solamente para los E.E.U.U.!
He probably says “Mercy bookoo”
According to Rush yesterday he does NOT speak Spanish.
Sounds pretty discriminatory against the other ethnicities here as well.
Let Obambi point out how well Canada is doing with their dual languages...NOT!
“...you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.”
YOU need to stop giving me advice on how to rear my children, you arrogant buffoon.
Pienso que era el problema original.
"that it is the fault of the US and Europe is better than we are"
I always thought it was “Mercy Buttercups”.
Does he think ebonics will be any more intelligible in Spanish to someone who speaks Spanish than it is in English?
Heck.....McCain probably agrees with him.
Anyone who disagrees with me on any topic is being divisive.
Hillary and Barry are on the same page as far as our kids are concerned.
They don’t trust parents to raise children with the “right” values, so they implement more voluntary (for now) government programs to do so in your place.
Hillary had a ghost writer soften her rhetoric in her book, “It takes a village”, but the desire and the drive is still there.
Just what does “It Takes a Village” mean to a family that is raising their children without need or desire of Hillary’s “assistance”? /rhetorical question
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.