Plus, he cooks daal and reads Urdu poetry?
Is our president a phenomenal mutli-culturalist or what?? Not only he has Kenyan relatives, grew up in gloriously multi-culti Hawaii, went to school in Indonesia and speaks some Bahasa Indonesia, can do Hawaiian hand gestures and African-American hand jives with equal ease, has studied and taught in the arcane language of the law, writes graceful and revealing English prose, etc etc....
But now we learn he also reads Urdu poetry and can cook some Pakistani dishes? Who knew?
This, from the interview with Anwar Iqbal that ran in Pakistan's Dawn yesterday (HT: Tom Ricks):
"Any plan to visit Pakistan in the near future?""I would love to visit. As you know, I had Pakistani roommates in college who were very close friends of mine. I went to visit them when I was still in college; was in Karachi and went to Hyderabad. Their mothers taught me to cook," said Mr Obama.
"What can you cook?"
"Oh, keema ... daal ... You name it, I can cook it. And so I have a great affinity for Pakistani culture and the great Urdu poets.
"You read Urdu poetry?"
"Absolutely. So my hope is that I'm going to have an opportunity at some point to visit Pakistan," said Mr Obama.
Oh, and there was a bunch of politics there, too.
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news report:
At Least 65 Killed as US Drones Attack South Waziristan Funeral Procession
Mourners From Early Strike Killed in Second Attack
Jason Ditz, June 23, 2009
On Thursday, US drones launched an attack on a compound in South Waziristan, and when locals rushed to the scene to rescue survivors, they launched more missiles at them, leaving a total of 13 dead. The timing and target of the attack were controversial, as was the tactic of luring locals in with a first strike to maximize the kill count. Today, locals were involved in a funeral procession when the US struck again.
Drones attacked what they suspected was a “militant hideout” early today, killing at least 17. When mourners gathered to offer prayers for those slain in the first attack, the drones struck again, attacking the procession it self and bringing the overall toll to at least 65, according to witnesses.
The recent attacks show a level of aggression and a willingness to target gatherings likely to contain many innocent people unseen in previous US strikes in the area. Generally speaking, most of the dozens of attacks against South Waziristan have been isolated strikes against buildings, and were not followed up with supplementary attacks on the gathering crowds.
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I wonder if the dead Pakistanis include any girls
who were reading Urdu poetry when they died,
or any boys who were dining on daal.
We could ask their moms and dads,
but they're dead too, because
Barack Obama visited Pakistan,
just like he promised he would.
June 24, 2009 7:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
a cold water splash in the face of those dreaming.
June 24, 2009 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
This whole line of Obama idolatry is going to embarrass us all someday. I lke the guy too and I like his politics. But this is 2009. Treating him like JFK (he invaded Cuba, sure, but he also live Marilyn Monroe and long walks on the beach!) doesn't cut it anymore.
We like and support Obama so long as he listens to us and does the right thing. Forget your Roald Dahl poetry and uhuru cooking and look for some damned results from the man!
June 24, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply | Permalink