http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090703/pl_politico/24466
An article about Obama’s predilection for correct pronunciation of foreign names:
From the page: “He rolled his r’s in Puerto Rico when discussing Sonia Sotomayor’s background during her nomination announcement. He even started out pronouncing Sotomayor’s name in Spanish (So-toe-my-YOR), but he’d lapsed into the English pronunciation (So-toe-my-yer) by the time he handed the podium over to her.
Those efforts don’t just signal respect to outsiders, but shows employees inside the government, specifically at the State Department, noted Mike McCurry, a former Clinton press secretary, that the president takes detail seriously.
“And that has a positive impact on morale in our own government,”