..and he speaks fluently french

Yesterday I was watching CNN (sometimes by girlfriend forces me to watch telly), when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that former NATO commander General Jones would become her Special Advisor concerning security aspects of the Annapolis peace talks. Anyway, there she was touting his achievements as a soldier, marine, general and whatnot - and then she said proudly: "He also speaks fluently French".

Only in America. Generally, I try not to indulge too heavily in the European past-time of belittling those zany Americans (fat, ignorant, stupid, etc.), because I can count the number of Americans I know personally on the fingers of one hand, and they all were pretty decent guys. But I still think that it is only in the U.S. that you can add speaking a foreign language in the same breath as being a decorated combat veteran and having been the NATO commander - an outstanding achievement. He. speaks. French. Fluently! Gasp!