Word: retrospection
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Greatness is a compliment generally conferred in retrospect. We have lucked out several times in our history when implausible characters showed unexpected greatness when it was needed: a country lawyer from Illinois, a spoiled patrician in a wheelchair, to name two obvious examples. Even more miraculous (though troublesome for democracy), both Lincoln and F.D.R. were elected by promising more or less the opposite of what they did in office. Lincoln said he'd preserve the institution of slavery. F.D.R. said he'd balance the federal budget...
...Exhibit A. My first reaction was that Obama didn't make any mistakes, but he allowed McCain to attack him relentlessly without making an effective counterattack. I saw it as a toss-up, not a momentum changer; the public, however, saw it as a clear-cut Obama win. In retrospect, there were two reasons for this. The first became clear when I read the transcript: Obama was far more forceful on the page than he was on the screen. He just lambasted McCain quietly. A key moment was the Iraq question: McCain was very strong here, slamming Obama...
...brewing at the investment banks that fell under its purview. An SEC rule change in 2004 - which didn't generate a lot of attention at the time and passed before Cox came along - let the five largest investment banks significantly raise the amount of money they could borrow. In retrospect, the new ratio - $40 dollars borrowed for each dollar of capital to back it up - was precariously high, considering smaller broker-dealers were capped at a ratio of $12 borrowed for each dollar of capital...
Exactly. Throw da bums out. Makes sense in retrospect...
...despite the unhappiness over the security measures, the recent Kashgar attack was a reminder that a grave threat does exist. And, in retrospect, it should have come as little surprise that the deadliest attempt yet to use the Games for political ends would come in Xinjiang. Around half of the population are Uighurs and the huge province, which makes up nearly one-fifth of China's landmass, shares long borders with both Afghanistan and Pakistan, home to jihadist movements such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Chinese security officials have repeatedly stated that the possibility of a terrorist attack...