Hey, Obama, Did You Learn How To Say "Pander" In Urdu Too?

You've got to love Barry O. Check out this in-depth interview of the US president by Dawn, the first interview by a Pakistani news organization of an American president. As usual, he strikes all the right chords, and is respectful and conciliatory and careful in his language. But then there's this:

‘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.

First of all, any idiot can cook daal -- hell, even I manage to do it, and let me tell you, I'm an awful cook (I once tried to cook chicken karahi and it ended up looking like, no joke, Chinese stir fry).

Second, please stop. Enough already. We get it. You respect everyone. You can connect with everyone. Your melange of childhood and adolescent experiences that bring together issues of race, class, education, nationalism, religion, indeed the meaning of life itself -- we get it: you understand everything at a deeper level. Stop making us feel like lesser beings all the time. And stop pandering, it's getting annoying.