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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Sprechen Sie Austrian? |
| 2009-04-06 |
| Q Sonja Sagmeister from a little country, Austria, from Austrian Television. Mr. President, you said you came here to learn and to listen. So a quite personal question -- what did you learn from your personal talk with the European leaders? And did this change in a certain way your views on Europe and its politics? PRESIDENT OBAMA: ItÂ’s an interesting question. I had already formed relationships with many of them. Some of them I had met when I traveled through Europe before my election. Some of them I had met because they came to Washington after the election. This is the first time IÂ’ve been in a forum with so many of them at the same time. It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. ThereÂ’s a lot of -- I donÂ’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. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #14 I've been to all three German speaking countries: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The Germans bitch about not being able to understand the Swiss, but never about the Austrians. #shrug# It's been clear for some time now that Obama is no genius, no matter what his followers say. My guess is that he has about the same IQ as Bush... and nearly every other politician: somewhere between 115-130. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2009-04-06 23:42 |
| #13 Austrian is to German as Alabama is to Yankee. Swiss German is another beast altogether. But that is neither here nor there. The Glorious Bammo the Pious didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Again. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-04-06 23:23 |
| #12 tw, I only had 3 years of German in high school, but after almost 30 years, I was complemented on my pronunciation by an Austrian (as well as a German speaking Swiss.) The languages can't be that far apart. Of course, all I did was wish them a Froehliche Weihnachten (Merry Christmas), so it's not a large sample. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-04-06 21:33 |
| #11 I wonder if Obama speaks Mexican. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-04-06 19:58 |
| #10 Damn, but the man is insightful. Communicates it well, also. |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-04-06 18:53 |
| #9 So what he expected? That people have no interests?! Somewhat that sounds a bit xenophobe, it appears he expected that Europeans would not show the same human traits of others. |
| Posted by: Large Snerong7311 2009-04-06 14:48 |
| #8 That is a wonderful accent you have there. What is it? New Pennsylvanian? Austrian. Ahhh. Well then..G'Day mate! Let's put another shrimp on the barbie! |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-04-06 14:43 |
| #7 Speaking 'Austrian' is only half their problem... http://austriantimes.at/index.php?id=12227 |
| Posted by: Zorba Craising6734 2009-04-06 13:13 |
| #6 He probably thought he was in Australia and couldn't figure out why they were asking him about Europe. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-04-06 13:12 |
| #5 twiB, And "American" is very different than UK English, too. That doesn't make it a different language. Any reasonably aware person knows that. "Austrian" vs. German is less well known but one would think that the most nuanced of diplomatic presidents would no that too, no? The Obamanation is as embarassing as he is despicable. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2009-04-06 10:06 |
| #4 And Bush was portrayed as unsophisticated... |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-04-06 09:13 |
| #3 Harvard must be so proud. Wait...he did go to Hahvahd, right? |
| Posted by: Zorba Craising6734 2009-04-06 01:12 |
| #2 In fairness, Austrian German is very different than German German, coloured as it is by the languages of all the subject peoples of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the more sophisticated concerns of a people concerned with running a stable empire vs. a people living on Europe's battlefield and consequently worrying a great deal about basic survival issues and whether the villagers will need to resort to cannibalism this winter to survive until spring. Nonetheless, President Obama's wording displays a certain ignorance of the common forms used by those accustomed to the circles in which he suddenly finds himself, poor man. |
| Posted by: trailing wife in Buffalo 2009-04-06 01:05 |
| #1 Vienna lot of trouble. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-04-06 00:16 |