He really is getting into his BO Superstar role.

I'm not a Republican, I don't like Bush and I have no reason to dislike Obama for anything other than what he is putting forward himself.  I don't believe change for change sake is a good thing.

Wow. Talk about reaching.  Obama condemns Americans for not speaking any other language but English while he himself doesn't speak any other languages other than English.

I know plenty of liberals and they come in two groups - the tiny upper crust of them who see themselves as "wise people" who have been put here to "rule" the rest and then the bulk of the left comprised of society's whiney losers looking for handouts.  Obama clearly makes the case that he's the former.

I hate the notion of having to learn Spanish because a larger population of America speaks it as their first language.  This might be rooted in my extreme dislike of illegal immigrants.  My parents did things legally to come to America and it took them 15 years, so I especially think the idea of accomodating people that decided to cheat the system is frankly, bull****.  I may sound like a cold person, but that's my opinion on that specific issue.

Did you see the Onion video about this? It has this fake black rights activist going on the show to say how great it is that a black man is being viewed as elitist. From little more than an animal to better than everyone else in a hundred years. It's certainly a big step.

Only in America could a man like Obama (a born demagogue) be considered more royal and more a member of the privileged elite than a Bush.

What about the intellectual and nation-building benefits of learning a second language? If you're going to learn one, it may as well be one spoken widely in the western hemisphere. You'll be able to go backpacking through South or Latin America without having to speak English, or travel through Europe as a bilingual. Intellect and health-wise, bilinguals benefit from a greatly reduced risk of Alzheimer's and tend to deal better with cultural difference.

Obama could have been less specific, as you'll get benefit out of any second language, but for North Americans Spanish is the logical choice. Tonnes of people nearby speak it, even inside the US, it's a Romantic language so it's not too hard to learn initially and it's widely spoken world-wide so resources are freely available. If he'd recommended Pashtu or Urdu I'd be raising my eyebrows at his cheek. Spanish just makes sense.

On a related note:

Why are you against a paternalist leader? Clearly a near majority of the American people have no interest in politics and are more than willing to leave the heavy thinking to their political betters. If such is the will of the people, and voting records suggest it is, paternalism is inevitable. If the citizenry refuse to be adult about politics, they're going to be treated as children. At least Obama is honest about his intentions.

Most Americans don't see their government as rulers but as servants.

Government should be trying to do as little as possible. We don't need to be ruled, we need someone to keep the streets paved, secure our borders, and run our courts.

I don't need the government to pay for my pills.

I know you do your research on statistical things like this for Political Machine, so I guess you must be right. I must admit it's something of an alien idea to me. Who would let their servants know important things and never tell them, or conduct important matters on their behalf without any real input? Americans, I suppose is the answer. The old wives are right - there truly is a place for everything in this world (and I'm not being sarcastic!).

The former does need sheep (the latter) after all.

That's because in America, having liberal opinions causes liberals to think that they are somehow better and smarter than everyone else.  Accomplishment means nothing to liberals. Correct political beliefs are all that matter.