Well, it looks like Obama may well become the next president, so its time for me to get negative.
From a Canadian perpective I’ve heard two pronouncements from Obama over the last 6 months that bring to mind a comparison that is very disturbing.
Like Bush’s propensity for invasion, I’ve heard Obama say that under certain circumstances he would invade Pakistan. I’m sure that is well known.
But much less known is that like Bush, he hasn’t a clue about the country that is America’s largest oil supplier and trading partner, Canada. Even worse than Bush, he lives right on the border of Canada. CANADA DOES NOT HAVE A PRESIDENT !
Criminey! While I agree it would be nice for candidates to remember at all times which countries have presidents, prime ministers, emirs, kings, princes, colonels and ayatollahs, I think it would be wishful thinking that wonderful candidates like this magically appear in both parties.
Corner most of these candidates, and they’ll probably know that Canada has a prime minister. Saying “president” by mistake in a speech doesn’t count for much. And in any case, we have a State Department that is full of people paid to remember the difference.
Our political system is sufficiently arcane that I do not regard ignorance of certain facts about it as a sign of unintelligence in either Americans or foreigners, so I wonder whether you would extend the same courtesy to us.
Who do you want us to elect, Ken Jennings? It was a minor gaffe. Sheesh. I don’t think there’s any comparison between Obama’s intellectual curiousity and that of Bush’s.
I am going to have to agree with Mr Moto here as well. Despite my personal political views, I believe that GW Bush is a foreign affairs wizard and produced perhaps the most consistent and nuanced set of policies since Nixon. The fact that he either fell for a stupid prank or accepted it gratefully rather than embarrass the reporter is indicative of absolutely nothing.
While I can understand why Canadians would be annoyed by the kind of gaffe described in the OP and see it as typical American ignorance of their country, I think this one is pretty minor, more a misspeak than real ignorance, and that Obama manifestly ain’t no Dubya. If accidentally calling the Canadian PM a “president” is the worst thing that can be said about the guy, he’s going to have a pretty easy campaign.
Here’s a more relevant commonality between Obama and Bush – they both did blow when they were younger. Obama at least admits it.
I’m waiting for the “secret Muslim” stuff to rear its ugly head again. Never mind that there isn’t a glimmer of truth to it. His last name rhymes with “Osama” and his middle name is Hussein. I have actually heard people IRL say in all seriousness that they think that’s a reason for concern.
Assuming for the moment it wasn’t a slip of the tongue and was in fact a display of Obama’s ignorance…
What’s of more concern in a US president, that he thinks there’s a president of Canada instead of a PM, or that he doesn’t know the PM’s name? The former suggests he’s not up on his reading, the latter suggests he hasn’t dealt with the PM of our next-door neighbor on any meaningful level. Not something I want in a leader.