President Bush Says Anthem Should Be in English

President Bush has announced that the U.S. National Anthem should be in English.

The national anthem should be sung in English — not Spanish– President Bush declared Friday, amid growing restlessness over the millions of immigrants here illegally.

“One of the things that’s very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul,” the president exclaimed. “One of the great things about America is that we’ve been able to take people from all walks of life bound as one nation under God. And that’s the challenge ahead of us.”

A Spanish language version of the national anthem was released Friday by a British music producer, Adam Kidron, who said he wanted to honor America’s immigrants. When the president was asked at a Rose Garden question-and-answer session whether the anthem should be sung in Spanish, he replied: “I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.” He made his remarks on the matters during a wide-ranging briefing with reporters. “I think people who want to be citizens of this country ought to learn English,” Bush said.

While Bush, king of the malapropism, might not be the best messenger for that particular idea, he’s certainly right. We should welcome immigrants and their cultural contributions; we should nonetheless continue to speak a single language.

FILED UNDER: Race and Politics, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. anjin-san says:

    Does Bush speak English?

  2. Xielanx says:

    I completely agree with Bush. These immigrants should learn English and respect our culture. Especially those who are spanish, they have an advantage because their language is very similar to ours.

  3. ludi says:

    I think that the National Anthem should be in English. Excuse me, that I was born here in the US and that I am part of the Land of the Free. One thing that I would like to say, actually several things… is that why do these illegals go back to their countries to try to change their laws over there??? And why do they think that they can come over here and try to change our laws that are not theirs??? If you illegals really want to see change then go protest in your country!!!!! You act like if we owe you something b/c you went through 115 degree weather and were dehydrated and fell in a patch of cactus and b/c you only bring a back pack full of whatever you can fit in there. I am sorry that you fell that you need to come here to my country and try to change my laws, when you are not even part of MY country!!! You know nobody put a gun to your head or twisted your arm to have to go through all the hardship that yall had to go through to get here. But we do not owe yall anything. I am of Hispanic descent, my family 3 generations back came from Spain and Puerto Rico, but they got here LEGALLY!!!!! And know the rest of my family are AMERICAN’S, b/c they did it the right way decades back!!!! Please I no longer want to be paying taxes so yall can get on welfare, cash assistance, food assistance, free medical care and so on… us Americans are getting screwed 50 times over b/c of this. And then on top of that yall put like 7 or dependants on your W4’s with by the way are usually fake, and so no taxes are taken out, and then you do not have to file a tax return b/c of the fake papers, and if you r do b/c of the ITIN’s you get money back, money that us Americans have worked hard for, just to give a way to yall who cheat our system and then still want to get here without any rules or regulations, PLEASE!!!!! That is sad, and any American who is for that should go to another country.

  4. Dwayne Bazinet says:

    Are you kidding me? This shouldn’t even be an issue in the news. Fact, this is America, a country that speaks English. Why are we even talking about putting our nations song in another language. Do we go to Mexico and request they sing their nations song in English? Never, because it would be a slap in the face to their nation. To the people that think we should make a version of the National Anthem in Spanish, get out of this country if you don’t like it. We don’t need people like you bringing down our nations pride and the way we are. We are not a Spanish country so we DEFINITELY should not allow this to happen.