Obamateurism of the Day: OBAMA says he doesn't speak Austrian

hotair.com ^ | April 6, 2009 | Ed Morrissey

[Tolik]

George Bush’s critics rightly roasted him for his tortured syntax and waterboarded grammar, and used it to make the claim that the graduate of both Harvard and Yale was an idiot.  Well, perhaps, but I don’t recall him ever claiming that Austrian was a language.  It takes a highly-esteemed intellect, it seems, to miss the fact that Austrians mainly speak German:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7zhnctF4c

 

Obama: It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of — I don’t know what the term is in Austrian — wheeling and dealing — and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics.

Austrians speak German and Italian primarily, as well as French — and I’m sure some Austrians speak languages ranging from Albanian to Swahili, being an intelligent and cultured people. However, none of the speak Austrian, because it doesn’t exist.

I got a deluge of e-mails on this, so thanks to all who sent the tip.  Other bloggers on this Obamateurism:

• American Thinker
• Jim Treacher’s Twitter message
• Josh Painter

Update: LGF claims they have a clip of Bush bowing to Abdullah, but he’s actually bending down to receive a medal from the Saudi king.  Bush is much taller than Abdullah, which would have made it impossible for Abdullah to get the medal around his neck otherwise.  We can question whether Bush should have accepted a medal from the Saudis, but he wasn’t greeting Abdullah with a bow.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day.

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Barcepundit: OBAMA SAYS he doesn't speak Austrian. It's unknown if he can speak Argentinean or Brazilian but, to his credit, his American is way better than his English.

[Dick Bachert]

Yes, but he's one of the only low-grade morons who speaks fluent TELEPROMPTER!

[RexBeach]

I don’t speak Nicaraguan.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I’m sure the MSM will cover this up. If necessary, by creating an Austrian language and counterfeit novels, textbooks, etc. in the Austian language. (Sort of like that DailyKos birth certificate).

[patton]

oops - turns our he is German. LOL!

[nutmeg]

Excerpt:

Obama: It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of — I don’t know what the term is in Austrian — wheeling and dealing — and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics.

Austrians speak German and Italian primarily, as well as French — and I’m sure some Austrians speak languages ranging from Albanian to Swahili, being an intelligent and cultured people. However, none of the speak Austrian, because it doesn’t exist.

What an idiot. I guarantee you'll never hear/read this in the MSM. If a Republican said this, you'd hear it about it for decades a la Dan Quayle...

[NFHale]

What a kartoffelkopf...

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Y’all remember Zero during the election crawl making a statement mocking Americans for not being able to speak other foreign languages?

Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdxP85ouT9c

[Dick Bachert]

I failed to mention that he is a perfect representative of those who voted for him.

[cynwoody]

If Bambi would like a quick example of how an Austrian gives a proper speech in Austrian without a teleprompter, he should look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs

[TheCipher]

Leno .... Paging Jay Leno ....

Doubt will ever see this mentioned. He is still doing Bush jokes.

[Type Righter]

I don’t speak Marxism, but I’m afraid I’m picking up a few words here and there by listening to our Marxist in Chief. The phrase I’m struggling with mostly is “redistribution of wealth” but MiC rolls it off the teleprompter so smoothly, like he’s been saying it all his life and believes in it. Gee, I wonder why?

[MarkeyD]

Does anybody?

[MarkeyD]

I was so wishing he’d said something about putting a shrimp on the barbie.

[Jonny foreigner]

oops - turns our he is German. LOL!

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No no still austrian, i was just figuring out that you mean “jetzt is ma klar” *lol* oh those different slangs in
Austria. i will take the blame for this :-)
greetings

[CholeraJoe]

Actually there is a distinct Austrian accent to the German spoken there. Native German speakers pick up on it right away.

Just like Spanish speakers can tell a Mexican from a Puerto Rican from a South American accent. My Spanish is very limited but even I can tell the Castillian accent from Spain.

[rmlew]

JFK called himself a Jelly doughnut, but did so in German. Obama pulled an “Ich bein ein Weiner” moment, in english.

[Tolik]

Perception of reality in many instances is as important as reality itself. “Bush =idiot, Obama=genius” reality was instrumental in bringing Obama to power. But it has limitations. It does not take into account the players outside of this system. And the real world provides schemers and intrigants that can and will eat Obama for breakfast. As Chicago machine had an advantage over less skillful players, its not a match against people that came to power in the jungles of Kremlin, Peking, Tehran, Pyongyang.

[ccmay]

Doesn’t Osterreich mean “Eastern Nation”, implying the eastern portion of the German-speaking peoples? In fact, if memory serves me, it was renamed Ostmark (Eastern Province) in the days of the Anschluss.

[VeniVidiVici]

America owes Dan Quayle an apology.

Is it 'potato' or 'potatoe' in Austrian?

[5thGenTexan]

So, will the companies that made the 'Bushism' calendars adn such make 'Øbamism' calendars?

There is plenty of material out there...