Midterm election buzzword awards announced

Six months ago, GLM highlighted the Narratives that were dominating perception of the administration and its handling of various crises and achievements.  However, since President Obama’s Oval Address on the Oil Spill, some may argue that his personal narrative has been shaped by forces largely out of his control.

GLM has continued to track the five most prevalent narratives since that time.  Unfortunately, in the interim these narratives have largely blended into a negative mélange of historic portions.  GLM has been monitoring the language of politics since 2003.

The ranking of the President’s five most prominent narrative arcs include:

1.     Obama as out-of-touch or aloof – This has only grown stronger over time.

2.     Obama and the deficit — Words linking Obama to deficit have steadily increased as those linking Bush to the deficit have declined .

3.     Obama and the Oil Spill — The completion of the relief well apparently did not provide the president with relief from the issue.

4.     Obama as HealthCare Reformer – The president’s signature achievement that has been largely avoided by members of his party – for fear of the overall negative reception to the program affecting their personal chances of (re-)election.

5.     Obama as the Chicago-style pol — This usually conveys the ability to make things happen — though in a stealthy, force-your-hand manner reminiscent of the days of cigar-filled back rooms.  Even this has been undone by the public perception of Obama’s seeming inability to get things done.

The result has been an admixture of these five narratives, resulting in an unfortunate amalgam for the president and his party to overcome..

With this in mind, we present our Midterm Election Buzzword  Awards.

1.  The Christine O’Donnell Award for the Candidate Most Out of His or Her League.

This was a difficult decision with so many candidates from which to choose.  Nevertheless the award is presented to Christine O’Donnell herself.

2.  Best ‘Mission Accomplished’ Moment

Nancy Pelosi (oversized gavel in hand) and her congressional colleagues taking a ‘victory lap’ on Capitol Hill after final passage of the HealthCare Reform initiative.  Doesn’t anyone remember Bush’s Mission Accomplished moment?  Ms. Pelosi’s approval rating is now among the lowest ever recorded.

3.  Best way to disenfranchise a new voter group (the Tea Party):

Remember calling them Astroturf (fake grassroots)?  Not the best way to reach a potential block of motivated voters.  The scorn directed at Tea Partiers from the sophistical elites apparently only made this new voter group stronger.

4.  Most Talked About Emotions:  Anger and Rage

5.  Actual Most Dominating Emotion:  Frustration

GLM’s numbers show ‘frustration’ and ‘let down’ far exceed citations of ‘anger’ and ‘rage’ on the Internet, in the Social Media, blogosphere, and print and electronic media.

6.  Most Mis-read Emotional Mistake:

Mistaking ‘rage’ for ‘frustration’.   Here’s a way to test this for yourself.

1.     Count the number of angry, raging crowds you’ve seen with your own eyes.

2.     Count the number of frustrated or let down voters you have encountered.

3.     Do the math.

7.  Biggest Opportunity Missed to Leverage a Primary Voter Concern.

Climate Change and Global Warming have been among the top five voter concerns for the last three election cycles.  This is a very real concern for the planet’s future that has little to do with carbon-tax type issues.

8.  Most Extraneous Issue:  Wingnuts

“Nutty politicians on both the Left and Right wings”:  Wingnuts make for great entertainment but end-up distracting us from the real issues of the election..

9.  Beating their ploughshare into swords Award:  The Afghanistan Brain Trust

After promising earlier withdrawal during the campaign, the Commander-in-Chief doubles down and ups the ante.

10a. Opaqueness Award I:

Transparency, or the lack thereof in the Healthcare arena.  Remember the pledge to publish all bills online for 3 days before a vote would take place?

10b.  Opaqueness Award II:

The opposite of transparency; passing a Healthcare Reform bill, as Nancy Pelosi famously said, “… so we can know what’s in it.

11a.  Blaming the Recession On Bush Award:  Democrats

11b.  Blaming the Recession On Obama Award:  Republicans

11c.  Understanding the Recession is Bigger than Either Obama or Bush Award:  Vacant

12.  Detached, Aloof, Professor award:

Bestowed once again upon Professor Obama. 

13.  The Most Easy Way to destroy the Rumor that You are Muslim.

This might sound simplistic, but a sure-fire way to counter the rumour is to pick a Christian church of any denomination and attend it.

14. The Worst Suggestion on How to Judge the President’s Success::

Check the unemployment numbers at the end of Recovery Summer. Oops!. 

15.  The Easiest Way to Insult 80% of the Voting Public:

Suggest that the only reason they might object to Park51 built a few blocks from Ground Zero is Islamophobia.

Paul JJ Payack is the rresident and Chief Word Analyst at The Global
Language Monitor in Austin, Texas.

The Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.  The Global Language Monitor is a trusted source of record for hundreds of media outlets around the world.  For more information, call 1.925.367.7557, email editor@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.