Nevermind. My brain automatically filled in the “the” before “United States.” I thought Lobelia was asking about the “the” in front of “president.”
No, it’s not. It has nothing to do with it. Use of “a” vs “an” is based on whether the following word begins with a vowel or a consonant sound. Use of “the” before a country doesn’t depend on whether the name begins with a vowel sound at all.
That law is a ass.
Although the pronunciation of “the” might…
Why do Brits leave off “the” in the sentence, he went to the hospital?
Same reason you might omit “the” in “he went to the school”: one refers to a particular school, the other does not.
Tangential+slightly off-topic:
I always thought “The Dalles” is a cool name for a city.
Any other US cities/towns that include article “The”?
The Plains, Ohio
The Woodlands, Texas
Both census-designated places, rather than incorporated towns. You can get those two by going to Google Maps, typing in "The " and looking at matched names.
Actually, we got LOTS of 'em: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Los Gatos, Los Altos …
The Colony, Texas.