July 11th, 2008

What Obama fails to note about Europeans and languages

Posted in  Politics 
Author: Tom Giovanetti || Location: Chicago O'Hare Airport

I've just (only in the last hour or so) returned from a week in Europe, so my ears were particularly attuned to the latest Obama incident; this time his criticism of Americans for being language illiterate compared to Europeans.

His exact quote was:

"You know, it's embarassing 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'!"

Well, Mr. Obama, Mr. Just-Now-Getting-to-Know-Your-Own-Country, let me ask you a question: What kind of Europeans come to the United States? Isn't it pretty much the upper-class Europeans with above-average education that come to the U.S.?

I just went through customs in the Chicago O'Hare airport. I saw any number of examples of Europeans who could not speak English to the customs staff, who needed other family members to translate for them, or who were struggling to figure out what to do BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T SPEAK OR READ ENGLISH.

And I spent the last week in Geneva, Switzerland, one of the wealthiest and most highly-educated cities in the world. I was surrounded by Genevois (people from Geneva) who could not speak English. Waiters, cab drivers, people on the street from whom I asked directions.

Granted many Genevois DO speak English, but the point is that many don't as well.

Yet another example of the apparently low view Obama seems to have about the people who inhabit the country he wants to govern.