News Herald

Via Eric Kleefield, we find Michael Goldfarb doing some first rate sleuthing based on President Obama saying "thank you" to the King of Saudi Arabia in Arabic:

Obama has said before that he speaks "barely passable Spanish" and "a smattering of Swahili," as well as some Bahasa from his youth in Indonesia. But Obama has at other times denied speaking a foreign language, saying in July of last year, "I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing!"

[...]

It seems there is some legitimate confusion on just what languages Obama speaks, and as far as Arabic, the only real hint has came from Nick Kristof, who heard Obama recite the Muslim call to prayer in Arabic and with a "first-rate accent" back in 2007. With even the White House now smearing Obama as a Muslim, one wonders if the president hasn't been concealing some greater fluency with the language of the Koran.

Bonus points to anyone who can find Goldfarb's point. It's like the logical conclusion to his own innuendo is so personally embarrassing that he's not even willing to make the point himself. And apparently David Petraeus is also "fluent" in Arabic.

-- A. Serwer