Saying what you don't say

Dear George,

With just over a month left before your administration rides into the sunset, you continue to display an artistic creativity when it comes to sculpting the English language. You have a God-given gift of creating phrases that collapse upon themselves the moment they are uttered.

You have put together an entire lexicon in which the words mean the exact opposite of their implied meaning. “No Child Left Behind” means leaving poor children behind in their squalid ignorance; “Operation Iraqi Freedom” introduced an oppressive army of occupation to Iraq.

Now you have outdone yourself with your proposed “managed bankruptcy” of General Motors. The phrase has the same discordant resonance as “living death”. And in effect, a managed bankruptcy would turn GM into a zombie since nobody’s going to buy a car from a bankrupt auto company simply because a bankruptcy, managed or unmanaged, would impact negatively on the car’s trade-in value.

But that’s been the hallmark of your administration, destruction through building.

God, the world will be empty when you leave office. Already, the blogosphere has fallen silent as progressives wait with baited breath for the advent of Obama’s center-right move to the left-center which will be an exercise in left-centered rhetoric that will throw a gossamer blanket over his center-right policies.

Hell!

Maybe things won’t be so bad after January 20 after all.

Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones