He's a New York Times columnist who makes me think of an intellectual Mr. Rogers. Mild-mannered, thoughtful, right-of-center. He's conservative but not hawkish. He can praise without fawning. He can criticize without condemning.But today he invented a word that made the logophile in me go ga-ga. In describing with a tongue-in-cheek air the intellectual prowess of members of Obama's cabinet he writes:
"Even more than past administrations, this will be a valedictocracy — rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes."
'Valedictocracy' is the best word ever! I don't know why I like it so much. It's a word that's funny in a rib-poking sort of way, but at the same time a word that admires the way that Obama is valuing intellect in putting together his cabinet.
Read the whole column here. His articles are always well-written and he's one of the ones I always read. I have to say my all-time favorite is Maureen Dowd, though. Even though sometimes she's a little more hit-and-miss. But she is SO funny, I forgive her.
Oh, and I discovered a new feature on NYT that made me cry with pure delight. If you highlight a word, a little question mark pops up and when you click it, a window will pop up with definitions! Almost as nifty as Google's "define" feature.
2 comments:
I thought David Brooks' column today (like most of his columns) was excellent as well. MoDo hates on men a little too much for me.
MoDo! I love that nickname for her! I know a lot of people accuse her of being a man hater, but in reality she's just a hater in general. She's an equal-opportunity hater. During the primaries, she blasted Clinton as much as she called out Obama as much as she derided Edwards.
I always take MoDo with a grain of salt, though. I wasn't laughing so much when she made fun of Palin for her belief in speaking in tongues.
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