After pin flap, Obama explains arugula
Posted: Friday, October 05, 2007 4:24 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
Obama mentioned “arugula” again in Iowa, notes the Chicago Tribune’s The Swamp blog:
“…[H]e explained that he had been "teased" for previously mentioning arugula. ‘All the national press, they said, 'Oh, look at Obama. He's talking about arugula in Iowa. People in Iowa don't know what arugula is,'" he said. "People in Iowa know what arugula is. They may not eat it, but you know what it is.’
“Well, maybe.
They then quote three Iowans on the “leafy green” and “at least some in the crowd were a little confused.”
“ ‘I've heard of it, but I don't know what it is,’ said Richard Newton, a laborer and volunteer firefighter from Independence. ‘But I understood what he was talking about.’”
“Kay Hoffman, a hospital clinic assistant from nearby Aurora, Iowa, said she had never heard of it before, suspecting it might have something to do with Obama's Hawaiian upbringing. ‘I don't know what it is,’ she said. ‘Maybe it's a Hawaiian thing.’”
“James Sink, a retired manufacturing worker from Cedar Falls, Iowa, said he had no clue. ‘I had no idea what it is,’ he said.”
Earlier this year, Obama said, "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff." This prompted a Newsweek article dubbing it his “arugula moment” under the headline, “Fighting the Arugula Factor: He charms elites. But how does Obama woo a must-have: 'downscale Dems'?”
