In the late 1800s, U.S. President James Garfield, a former classics professor, amused friends by translating simultaneously an English document into Greek with his left hand and Latin with his right hand. President George W. Bush cannot match this linguistic ability, but his use of Spanish and his family connections with Mexico have helped him considerably and may do the same for Latinos.
Bush readily recognizes his linguistic limitations. Although he speaks Spanish, he has often said that he does not want to destroy it because he considers it "un idioma muy bonito" (a very beautiful language). Bush did study Spanish in high school and college and honed it in the oil fields of Texas, but he could probably not communicate at all in a debate in Spanish. Spanish wire service EFE reported last year that Bush speaks Spanish "poorly."
Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins, no fan of Bush, has written that his Spanish is pretty bad. She went as far as saying that Bush is not bilingual/bicultural, but rather "bi-ignorant."