Merci Beaucoup

In July, 2008, Amanda Carpenter reported that candidate Barack Obama told supporters in Georgia:

"It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beacoup, right?”

Today in the Casa Blanca, el Presidente Obama celebrated Cinco de Mayo with visitors including some from south of the border. Breitbart.com writes that the President greeted them with,

"Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro—Cinco de Mayo at the White House."

Translated, he told them, "Bienvenidos a the Fifth of Four- The Fifth of May a la Casa Blanca."

I'm sure he meant to say "Welcome to Cuatro de Mayo..." indicating that they were celebrating the historical event a day early.

Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican excuse for a big fiesta. On this day in 1862, Mexican General Zaragoza defeated French forces in the battle of Puebla. It is not even a Mexican legal holiday and is probably celebrated more in the United States than most of Mexico.

Nonetheless, this oral faux pas by the President, sent the computer and electronic nerds in our secret basement laboratory scurrying to the drawing board. They quickly designed and constructed something that apparently has never before existed. They brought their newly invented 'Multi-Lingual Teleprompter' into a conference room for a demonstration and we spent a good portion of the afternoon singing, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, cariña. ¿No sabes que Te amo?