Bienvenidos, Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro
Imagine if Bush had done this:
El Presidente Obama celebrates ‘Cinco de Cuatro’
Well, there goes some of the Latino vote next time.
President Obama greeted a White House crowd this afternoon gathered for a May 4 premature celebration of Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday honoring an upset military victory over the French, whose troops didn’t do so well in North America and don’t celebrate the same day much.
Anyway, in a well-intentioned attempt at Spanish and a joke about being a day early, Obama said:
“Bienvenidos. Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro — (laughter) — Cinco de Mayo at the White House. We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House.”
Apparently unbeknownst to the president he wasn’t saying “Happy May 4th.” He was saying, “Happy fifth of fourth.”
He could have said, “Feliz cuatro de mayo.” But he didn’t. So that explains the laughter.
He should be particularly ashamed of himself after this lecture.
I completely agree with him that Americans should make more of an attempt to learn other languages. Especially Spanish, given that it is the 2nd most widely spoken language in the U.S. So, how about we get right on that, Mr. President.
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