Asked at a news briefing in the Rose Garden on Friday whether he believed the anthem would have the same value in Spanish as it did in English, Mr. Bush said flatly, “No, I don’t.“
“And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English,” Mr. Bush said. “And they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.“
It’s about damn time that someone said this – and President Bush, at that! I’ve been saying it for years – you are in America, we speak English, you need to learn to speak English if you don’t know how already! Conversely, I am currently living in Saudi Arabia [yeah, lucky me], I have taken Conversational Arabic I, and am currently taking an Arabic writing class. I may never learn to speak or learn to read and write Arabic fluently, but I am determined to make the effort. I’m in Saudi, they speak and write in Arabic… The saying, “When in Rome do as the Roman’s do” comes to mind.