Obama specifically stated that he thinks anyone coming to America should learn English.

So why should should anyone react negatively to him encouraging people to make sure their kids learn spanish too?

Last time I checked significant percentage of American public schools teach Spanish. (in addition to many other foriegn languages). If encouraging 2nd language learning is somehow "off key", elitist, or condescending, then America really has a problem.

The part of his speech that was a bit off key in tone was his joke about Americans in France. He used a bit of sarcasm that isn't usually on the political script (politicians don't usually imply that voters are ignorant or under-educated). Though I think his main point is correct...Europeans are much more likely to learn a 2nd language than Americans, and it does give them a competitive advantage.

But Spanish specifically? Not Chinese, Japanese, German or any other language spoken by major players in the global economy? By singling out Spanish, he weakens his point about wanting immigrants to learn English. And without that line, there isn't a poll where 83% of people are disagreeing with him.

Obama is a great speaker but he has a bad habit of lecturing rather than simply advocating. This is a classic example. Instead of just pointing out the rather obvious point that being bilingual is a great goal, he ended up telling parents how they should raise their kids (never popular) and then threw in a line about how his fellow Americans "embarrass" him (another loaded remark he should have known to avoid).

Sundown:

But Spanish specifically? Not Chinese, Japanese, German or any other language spoken by major players in the global economy?

Very true... And who are we so eager to speak to whom speaks only spanish? One of the ways we can make our children to excel in this country, is to ensure they:

1. Have proper command of the english language, as that is the primary language of this country.

2. Learn a foreign language that is going to allow them to excel in the worlds of math, science, economics, etc. Think chinese, japanese, russian, german, french... Also think of the classics: italian, latin, cantonese, or the languages of the middle east.

He mentioned spanish specifically because he was addressing a latino organization.

He was encouraging immigrants to teach their children to become fluent in both English and their parents native tongue, which in this case was Spanish.