A SCOTTISH university student has written to Barack Obama – to persuade him to come to Arbroath and tuck into the town’s world-famous smokies.
Edinburgh University student Hunor Deak has written to the 44th President of the United States ahead of his visit to Scotland next month.
Hunor, originally from Romania, moved to Arbroath six years ago and believes the Democrat would be very interested in visiting the Angus town.
It is possible that if he were to visit, Obama could compare the Arbroath Smokie to Washington DC’s local sausage delicacy – the “half-smoke”.
Historians have also claimed the US Declaration of Independence was based on the 14th century Declaration of Arbroath, and Hunor believes Obama might want to visit the abbey where the declaration was signed.
Writing to Obama, Hunor, 19, said: “I hope you will have time to visit Arbroath, appreciate the old harbour, taste some Arbroath Smokies and see the old abbey.”
Speaking about his letter to a local newspaper, Hunor added: “St Vigeans [a small nearby village] offers us a window to the ancient past of Scotland when the Picts roamed the land.
“Arbroath Abbey tells a tale of Scotland as a free nation.
“It is pleasant to know that the US constitution can be traced back to Arbroath to a time when a giant cathedral dominated the landscape.”
Angus MP Mike Weir said the town was fit for a visit by the president.
He said: “I am sure President Obama would thoroughly enjoy a visit to Arbroath.
“A visit to the abbey would put him in mind of the influence that our Declaration of Independence signed in 1320 had on the later American Declaration of Independence, and thoughts of the many Scots who have influenced American history.
“Indeed he might like to know more about the Buick family, who became synonymous with the American car industry, and other engineering and oil-related businesses.”
A book released seven years ago by historian Linda MacDonald-Lewis claims the US Declaration of Independence was not based on a model from the ancient Greeks or the Magna Carta as is widely touted, but was based on the 14th-century Declaration of Arbroath.
The Declaration of Arbroath was a declaration of Scottish independence, which reads: “It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
The US declaration of independence reads: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Barack Obama will be in Scotland for a charity event organised by The Hunter Foundation – a charity working towards poverty eradication and educational enablement – on May 26.
