LINK ONLY ELITISTS CARE ABOUT PRONUNCIATION.... Barack Obama pronounces "Pakistan" correctly, with a soft "a," just like a lot of people who know what they're talking about, including Gen. David Petraeus. Apparently, having completely run out of compelling policy arguments to make, some high-profile conservatives have decided to make this their latest campaign hobbyhorse. The National Review's Mark Stein, for example, said that Obama prefers the "exotic pronunciation." He added, "[O]ne thing I like about Sarah Palin is the way she says 'Eye-raq'." This came after the National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez posted an email that argued, "[N]o one in flyover country says Pock-i-stahn. It's annoying." The inanity of what the right decides to whine about never ceases to amaze me. That Obama's pronunciation is accurate is irrelevant. Mispronunciation apparently makes some conservatives feel better about themselves, and raises doubts about candidates who care to get this right. "Elites" care about country names; real Americans don't. My friend Adam Serwer's take was spot-on: To pronounce something correctly is to be "ostentatiously exotic," while pronouncing something incorrectly is raised to the level of something like a presidential qualification. Meanwhile, there are thousands of Americans of Pakistani descent who are themselves "ostentatiously exotic" by virtue of their names (and it would be elitist of them to expect anyone to pronounce them correctly) and ancestry. Keep in mind that these are the same people who insist that a culture of ignorance that hold black people back while lauding Sarah Palin's vast ignorance of public policy as some kind of tremendous virtue. They demand merit from others and only mediocrity from themselves, because said mediocrity is touted as proof of authenticity. The right's anti-intellectualism seems to be getting worse, doesn't it?
I wonder why he pronounces Pakistan in that way, but not Afghanistan. Correct pronunciation is a good thing for your representative to the rest of the world.
I was actually wondering the same thing about his pronunciation of Afghanistan. I know he had a Pakistani-American roommate in college, maybe that's why?
this is a very confusing notion that i have tossed around in my head before. but to actually suggest that its a negative thing that the president pronounce countries or other words correctly, when the average american may not. LISTEN PEOPLE THIS IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A. NOT THE MAYOR OF HOT SPRINGS ARKANSAS. IT IS OK IF THEY PRONOUNCE WORDS RIGHT. its ok if bush misprnounces nuclear, "nucular" to me, its not really a big deal. the word means the same thing. LET ME REPEAT THOUGH ITS NOT A BAD THING TO GET IT RIGHT.
Yeah. Or may 2 long a's in a single word is his threshold. If he tried to pronounce a 4-syllable word like Afghanistan in an authentic way, people would start thinking to themselves, "Damn, this lib really is a terrorist!"
Call me crazy, but I would think that most Pakistanis would care more about whether a candidate respects the sovereignty of Pakistan than how he pronounces Pakistan.
Well, in Austin, Burnet Road is pronounced "Burn-it Road." Manchaca is pronounced "Man-chak." Lake Buchanan is pronounced "Lake Buck-cannon." Why? That's just the way it is. If someone pronounces the three I mentioned the way they are supposed to be pronounced, you know immediately that they are fresh arrivals to our Fair City, my home for the last 28 years.
Obama says he'd go into Waziristan if US intelligence shows that Bin Laden is there AND if the Pakistani government is unwilling to do anything about it. Sounds fair to me. So why are Republicans getting all pissy about the issue?? After all, we did go into Afghanistan because we thought Bin Laden was there, and the Taliban obviously wasn't doing anything about it. Oh, and I'm Pakistani-American.
Whoa, I lived in Austin for four years, and pronounced all three of those names wrong the entire time...you learn something new on the BBS everyday.
Since present day Pakistan was a British colony prior to its partition from India, I'd say the correct pronunciation in English would be the way the British say it. Which is Pahk-is-tahn.
Good point, why does he not pronounce Afghanistan as "off-gon-ee-ston"? Now the real question is... how does he pronounce 'Sharia' as in Sharia Law? That's a question we just might get answered over the next few weeks... HO HO HO
Considering how widely the King's English is still used in Pakistan, and India, by the educated, I would tend to agree with you.
It's cute how the Traitorous er Traderous one keeps hinting at some sort of November surprise. At the rate the George Bush economy keeps cratering Obama could opt to spend the entire next debate calling everyone Infidel and doing that turkey clucking cheer you sometimes hear Muslim women do and still win by 4 points.
Yeah, how does Sarah Palin feel about this (before and after the Campaign got to her and set her straight). Side question, are the gates of Hell actually in Pakistan?
