Word: doofus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...will come to pass. Chester A. Arthur will remain Chester A. Arthur, and there is nothing you can do about it. But beware. Lewinsky or no Lewinsky, the American presidency still inspires some reverence - an awe that may work in complex ways. Voters may put an apparent doofus in the White House, yet in their awe, may trust that the presidency's sacramental, transformative powers will, so to speak, transubstantiate the doofus. Historical memory teaches that a base metal like Harry Truman, and therefore maybe even George W. Bush, might yet turn into gold - or anyway, be raised to unexpected...
...attack. The temptation to firebomb in those areas of vulnerability will, I suspect, be too great to resist. What areas? In the case of George W. Bush: abortion, capital punishment, gun control - all fairly passionate and motivating issues - and on top of those, what might be called the Doofus Dismissal: the persistent rap that he is not smart enough to be president. The first three questions will invite increasingly vicious us-versus-them rhetoric; the last will eat away at Bush by insinuation and late-night comedy...