Bush Emphasizes English

President Bush on Wednesday emphasized that illegal immigrants who want to stay here should learn English and demonstrate that they are committed to assimilating into American culture. He said immigrants should know there is a legal way to stay, if they are willing to make the effort:

One is to say you got to pay a fine for being here illegally. You got to learn the English language. In other words, you got to repay a debt to society and learn the skills necessary to assimilate into our society. Show us you've been working hard.

Now if only he could learn to speak English effectively, and an impossible dream, serve as a role model for aspiring citizens by using “have” instead of “got” in sentences, by pronouncing nuclear “nuc-lee-ar” instead of “nuc-u-lar,” and by emulating the best in our society rather than portraying himself as equal to the lowest common denominator.

His continued mispronunciation of nuclear, which is only one of the most important words in today’s geo-political world, either demonstrates a mind unable to learn or a complete capitulation to a Karl Rove tactic to show that he is not the product of a Harvard and Yale education but is just one of those down-home Texas boys. It also seems to be a symptom of an arrogant belief that whatever he believes is right. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks – intelligence analyst, scientist, linguist, or academic expert. Bob Woodward published the following quote from an interview with Bush:

I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel I owe anybody an explanation.

He did manage to say one thing in a news conference Wednesday in a comment he made about Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, without realizing how it actually characterizes his own legacy:

I think it will be okay. But it's going to take awhile. Sometimes leaders show up who do a great disservice to the traditions and people of a country