Presidents don't "rule," they "govern"

Like this blogger at Newsbusters.org, I cringed when Obama transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett said on "Meet the Press" that Obama is "prepared to ... begin to rule day one":

[G]iven, really, the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that President-elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

In a democracy, the president doesn't "rule." It's just a poor choice of words, but one with deep symbolic meaning.

Comments

[Paludicola]

Given the intensity, if not mania, that people today regard the President with, I'm not sure if, "rule," is such an inappropriate verb after all.