The Cliché Commander-in-Chief (Op-Ed)
Preface: We all use clichés occasionally. They are an easy shorthand way to make a point. The only problem is the point dulls from overuse and nowhere does speech deteriorate into dull and tired rhetoric faster than during political elections like the one between "crooked" Hillary and her "temperament" challenged opponent, the "trumpish" Trump.
By Thomas J. Madden, Chairman and CEO, Transmedia GroupAs the race “tightens,” we keep “hitting the campaign trail” encountering an endless parade of political clichés and roughshod rhetoric making this pursuit of the Presidency ever more wearisome to endure.
Just tally the bucketful’s of clichés dumped into this presidential election.They “speak volumes” about our politics. Media’s endlessly “breaking news” and guttural talk adds up to the sorry state our language is in amid the torrent of demeaning terms tossed around in this mad dash for “the highest office in the land.”It’s been probably the most hackneyed political race for President ever in the history of the United States of America. “Yes, unprecedented!” Everything you see and hear on TV is unprecedented. It’s an unprecedented use of the word unprecedented.How many times have we heard our FBI director was “between a rock and a hard place” . . . had to take “the lesser of two evils?” And what’s his job in the first place? Why sending out “shockwaves,” of course, when being the “October surprise.”All day long we hear hackneyed expressions like Hillary’s “strangle hold” on the Electoral College as she “protects the blues” as Trump tries to “turn purple to red.” Is this a campaign or a coloring contest?“I never thought I would be saying thank you to Anthony Weiner,” says a rejuvenated Trump who now is in a “dead heat” for Florida, while “surging” in New Mexico.” This was after “The Mother Lode” of emails popped out of Huma’s laptop and became delicious new “red meat” for Trump’s base.Meanwhile happy Hillary exhorts “deal me in” and keeps trying to “peel away voters” in “swing states.”Trump calls Hillary “crooked, corrupt and a liar.” She slams him back as patently “unfit,” calling him a prickly “predator” lacking the “temperament” to be commander-in-chief.Yes they “muddy the waters” with their incessant name calling, which occasionally makes them become “unhinged, causes their campaigns to “unravel” and their “unfavorables” to rise.That’s probably because the election is “rigged” and so too may be our English language, which is running far behind in the polls.[author] About the Author: Thomas Madden is CEO of TransMedia Group, one of the largest independent PR firms in Florida, where it currently operates. The firm’s clients have included AT&T, American Red Cross, City of New York, GL Homes, Jordache Enterprises, McCormick and Schmick’s, Rexall Sundown, Stanley Steemer. [/author]
