It’s not surprising that the President’s personal narrative on the campaign trail didn’t include this item:
He had very good friends Pakistani friends and roommates in college and traveled to Pakistan where he learned to cook the native foods and came to appreciate the great Urdu poets.
We can only assume that story was buried along with his middle name until the campaign was over and it was safe to bring them again.
But the President made these interesting admissions during interview with Anwar Iqbal of Pakistan’s Dawn Media Group this weekend:
Iqbal: Any plan to visit Pakistan in the near future?
Obama: 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.
Iqbal: What can you cook?
Obama: 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.
Iqbal: You read Urdu poetry?
Obama: Absolutely. So my hope is that I’m going to have an opportunity at some point to visit Pakistan.
It gets mysteriouser and mysteriouser.
Source: Dawn.com via Politico.com
