Tuesday, July 6, 2010

obama (kinda) quotes emma lazarus

In his immigration speech today, President Obama cited the most prominent symbol of America's immigrant tradition: The Statue of Liberty. He also quoted famous lines from the Emma Lazarus poem inscribed at the base of the statue -- at least some of them. Read on, and see if you can spot the difference (i got this from the oval-usatoday's website and they credit their friends at Politico for noticing this).

Here's Obama, according to the White House website:
Give me your tired, and your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free ...
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

And here's the Lazarus poem:
Give me your tired, your poor.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Yes, the president left out the section about "the wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
Politically correct? Or did he just overlook the line?

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