" to criticize their "accent"?" *sigh*....good grief, Peg, that's hardly criticizing! There is a BIG difference between criticizing and describing...I was trying to be as easy as possible in simply listing pluses & minuses..Yes..Schwartzenegger's is also distracting...and everyone in the media is making fun of it! I actually said some good things about her!

" since when is there a proper way to pronounce things in America? " (italics mine)

there is not, of course....there are just 'standard' ways. The guide to the most 'neutral' would be the news anchors of the major networks. I find some accents from southern states in the US to be FAR worse that Arianna...but it doesn't change the face that some WILL judge her, as well as Arnold, for not being native born.

There are always social and political judgements made based on language..England has them, the US has then Canada has them, France has them, and the Japanese REALLY have them....etc. (There is a thread about a German song going right now where where the point is made that so & so would never have used a word like that, for fear of being mistaken for another group!)

I, myself, have a funny midwestern twang that is a mixture of Texas, Kansas and living some early years in New Orleans...and I KNOW it distracts people sometimes. I'll bet that if I were to run for national office, I would need to control it and practice a more neutral sound!