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.
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.
Posted by: Paludicola | November 11, 2008 at 06:19 PM