The New York Times, McCain and Obama

[Jamie (K)]

[Torsten]

Why did you doubt that Bush said he is a war president?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

[Torsten]

In what way did I use the term differently from Bush?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

Your objection to the term indicated that you understood the term differently from the way it was intended.

[Torsten]

Jamie, please give some links with reference to the term "war president" so I can read up on the issue and educate myself. Thanks.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

Torsten, the problem with reading up on the term "war president" is that the people musing over it and writing about it the most are those who choose deliberately to misinterpret it and use it to attack Bush. They're the ones with the most enthusiasm for the term, so they use it and misdefine it a lot. Other people simply use it in its normal meaning, but they don't go on writing about it and redefining it. Therefore, to see its usage, the best I can do is recommend you do Google searches on combinations like lincoln "war president", fdr "war president" and so on.

[Alan]

Hi,

I'd like to make a plea for clarity since after all this is a language site. I'd like to make a plea that leaders, presidents and to quote from some prayer I remember hearing in my childhood when attending church, that 'those in authority over us' should be careful about comments they make in public. It is those comments that people remember and as they should, take seriously. Sometimes what they say is misunderstood and misfires and that's why they (I'm still referring to those in authority over us) should seriously check whether any ambiguity could be construed in their speeches. I can think of a couple of examples that stick in my mind from UK politics. In the 1960s a Prime Minister devalued the pound sterling and announced quite happily to us the public that this wouldn't affect the 'pound in your pocket' intending to reassure the populace that the pound note in your pocket wouldn't overnight turn into 17 shillings and sixpence (about 2/3 of what it had been worth). That was an unfortunate expression but give him his due, he meant well. In the 1980s another Prime Minister of a different political colour told us, the populace that: 'You have never had it so good' suggesting that materially we were better off and living standards had risen during his premiership. That was another unfortunate expression and on reflection sounded very arrogant - a thought that never entered his head as he was of the patrician mind.

Now I come to the point at last and suggest that if President Bush actually said: 'I am a war President', that was another unfortunate expression because it could so easily be misinterpreted. After all if a President had said: 'I am a peace President', would it not be interpreted to mean: I am determined to have peace in my country and that stance will be at the top of my agenda?

My conclusion is to suggest in humility that what he should have said was: I am a wartime President, indicating the fact that he held office during a time of war.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Word Story: Jokes

[Jamie (K)]

Here is a cartoon about the New York Times that I found in Investors Business Daily. The NYT's nickname is The Gray Lady.

[Jamie (K)]

Here are two more cartoons from IBD about the presidential candidates.