Obama leaves audience scratching heads over gaffes at Scotland summit

Former President Barack Obama called on world leaders to save the planet, but he couldn’t quite identify which country he was in.

Mr. Obama’s speech Monday at the COP26 climate-change summit is being mocked for his reference to host Scotland as part of the “Emerald Isles,” which is a nickname for Ireland.

“Since we’re in the Emerald Isles here let me quote the Bard, William Shakespeare,” Mr. Obama said. “‘What wound,’ he writes, ‘did ever heal but by degrees?’”

Observers pointed out Mr. Obama actually committed two gaffes in the same breath. Shakespeare is considered the bard of England â€" yet another country. Scotland’s bard is poet Robert Burns.

The Express, a publication in the United Kingdom, commented that Mr. Obama “attempted a local reference but failed spectacularly.” Another paper called Mr. Obama’s mixups “conspicuous flubs.”

Mr. Obama also raised some eyebrows by pronouncing Glasgow, the host city in Scotland, as “glass-cow.” And he joked about the “weak coffee and bad food” at the U.N. conference. 

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