An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Learn OUR Language!
Obama: Kids Should Learn Spanish
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.”
Excuse me? The likelihood of my “child” going to live in a foreign land, especially a SPANISH speaking one, are slim to NONE! May I ask why, pray tell, why she should have to learn Spanish?
At a Democratic primary debate Obama said he voted against it because “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.”
No, you ignorant feckless weasel, a common language would UNITE us. What you, and your lackeys want, is that great division.
Honestly, I don’t give a flying flip what you speak at home. However, when you are living here, out working in the real world, you damn sure better be able to speak the language of the land. In this case, that would be ENGLISH!
I’ve had relatives who didn’t speak English, I didn’t expect them to. They didn’t come here to live, just visit. (Skill in charades comes in real handy.) I lived in Thailand for a bit. I learned to speak a smidge of Thai. If I had lived there any longer, I would be expected to be almost fluent. That’s what people do.
We have people coming into this country from south of the border, some legally, a good chunk – illegally, who NEVER bother to learn the language. I remember reading a news story about a woman who had lived here a large portion of her life, finally becoming a citizen. Peachy. The problem? SHE NEVER BOTHERED TO LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH!
When the Mr and I use to travel to Mexico on vacation, we both knew enough Spanish to get by, shopping being the main activity. Since our intension is to NEVER return to that country until boundaries can be set, I don’t think this will be an issue in the future.
B. Hussein, and his ilk, will eventually divide this country so much, that one day, Spanish may become our official language. This must be stopped! NOW!
You know, I read about stories like this and I just have to shake my head and wonder.
First off El Senatore here, he has been using the process of dividing people to fuel his entire campaign, so he has a lot of nerve telling people that this is a question that would divide people. No, the subtle inneudo, the accusations of racism that isn’t there, and whatever else it may be is what divides the nation and in that sense he is considerably worse, with his smug sense of moral superiority, then any one else.
Secondly, give me a break. When the big push for American Immigration happened there were countless people from countless countries coming to America, and a great deal of them didn’t speak English, there were, there are still, churches that conduct service in these languages out of a sense of tradition, they had their language papers, and so forth and so on. But when they sent their kids to school they learned English, they adapted to their surroundings according to a common tongue. No where did they expect the government to change itself to meet there sole individual linguistic desires.
For Senator Obama to push this is the height of sheer ignorance, pandering for that Latino demographic that turned to Senator Clinton and has yet to back him.
There is nothing against people who speak Spanish, but I seriously have to wonder, how many of them, outside of a very loud minority, really want this stuff that Senator Obama is really pushing for and how many of them just want to be left alone to live there life, rather than being turned into a political tool for him to fuel liberal guilt.
@Wyatt:
I’ve never found B. Hussein to be all that bright…in ANY area. I think the only folks who still believe he’s got a modicum of intelligence are his drooling acolytes, and their sanity is seriously in question.
Oh, and welcome.