The problem itself is not linguistic but absolutely sociocultural. Fatherland, Motherland, Homeland, Mother Country are all used in the English language with different socio-cultural connotations and a different rate of usage. In his recent speech 'I miss my Motherland', The US President Barak Obama didn't mean anything outdated or humorous or politically incorrect. But these notions are different in our culture: Родина - is more often used in the meaning of 'Birthland' and is a usual word in colloquial speech; Отечество (Отчизна) - these words are less frequent, thus more poetic or pompous.
However, I think you will find out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherland#Motherland
So, the person who mentioned Quote (Nekavaen)
the variant “motherland” is out-of-date, sounds humorous and shouldn’t be used when talking to foreigners.
To prove this, I would suggest going to Dave's ES: Cafe, get registered and ask on the Student Discussion Forums.
