Word: aback
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...number of factors drove the decision - financial, political, personal - but chief among them was the desire to worship without being on display. Obama was reportedly taken aback by the circus stirred up by his visit to 19th Street Baptist in January. Lines started forming three hours before the morning service, and many longtime members were literally left out in the cold as the church filled with outsiders eager to see the new President. Even at St. John's, which is so accustomed to presidential visitors that it is known as the "Church of the Presidents," worshippers couldn't help themselves...
...situation is all the more dangerous and unpredictable because the election and its aftermath appear to have surprised all the major players, forcing them to improvise their responses to a fast-changing situation. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei appear to have been taken aback by the surge in support for the pragmatic conservative candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The decision to hastily announce what many say was an improbable landslide victory for Ahmadinejad touched off an unprecedented wave of protests that have rocked Khamenei, who has since backtracked by ordering an investigation into claims of voter fraud...
...breakfast, late-night weekday Quad shuttle service, and the Hilles Library, seem to have been made without adequate student consultation. Given the uproar heard around campus over several of these cuts, it seems many student considerations were not fully thought through by administrators. Moreover, students were understandably taken aback by these cuts. Before cutting hot breakfast, athletes who rely on these meals should have been consulted. Before cutting shuttle service or the Quad Library, Quad students should have had a period to offer feedback. When finalized decisions are made without any prior effort of communication, this leave students feeling alienated...
...committed to me and the group that it was going to meet on a regular basis.”Students say the resolution surprised the administration, which appeared to be unaware of the strong student sentiments surrounding the issue.“I think the Dean was really taken aback,” says Jessica K. Reitz, a co-chair of the Student Public Service Collaborative, a student organization that arose from the Dean’s Committee on Public Service.Ellwood could not be reached for comment for this article.In response, administrators met with student leaders, reaffirming their commitment...
...Philadelphia-based strategist Larry Ceisler, a Democrat who has long supported Specter, said he had expected to see him make a bid as an independent, even though that is technically difficult under Pennsylvania law, and was taken aback by his complete switch of parties. That switch, he said, appears to be the loudest statement of disapproval Specter can make about the Republicans and not necessarily an endorsement of the Democrats. "I don't expect Arlen Specter to be any different as a Democrat than he was as a Republican ... He was a maverick Republican. He's going...