“apologist” in chief?
Over on Contentions, John Steele Gordon is searching for the right word. I don’t think he found it:
As far as I know, there is no word in English for the opposite of jingoist. But if there were, its entry in the dictionary would belong next to Barack Obama’s photograph. It seems he can’t set foot on foreign soil without apologizing for this country’s past sins and promising that it will sin no more under his leadership. In doing so, of course, he both disses his own country and praises himself by implication.
Judging by the title of his post, Mr. Gordon evidently thinks apologist is the word he’s looking for. How do we break it to him that an apologist is someone who explains and defends something (or someone)—not someone who apologizes for it?
Barack Obama as Apologist in Chief?
Would that he were . . .
