Obama: "I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing!"
(DAYTON, OHIO) "I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing!" Barack Obama exclaimed today at town hall meeting here. Obama, who often touts his time growing up overseas, made the confession while speaking about the importance of teaching foreign languages in schools.
Obama came under fire by conservative groups earlier this week, after he said that more Americans should learn a foreign language.
At town hall meeting in Powder Spring, Georgia on Tuesday, Obama said, "It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup, right?"
The group Americans for Legal Immigration, which says they're "supporting candidates who make illegal immigration reduction a top priority", blasted Obama, saying that he has "stepped on a political land mine by stating Americans should be forced to learn to speak Spanish."
Obama brushed off the criticism today, saying that immigrants should learn English but that Americans should learn a foreign language as well. "You know, this is an example of some of the problems we get into when somebody attacks you for saying the truth," he said, "which is we should want children with more knowledge."