Words and Terms

transcendent (existing beyond the limits of ordinary experience)
"Obama seemed to have a kind of transcendent power, an ability to convince voters that he was not just another politician." (page 30)

arugula (a Mediterranean herb, part of the mustard family)
"On the campaign trail, at dinner with reporters, they sometimes order the arugula salad, poking fun at some comments Obama made last summer in Iowa ('Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they are charging for arugula?')" (page 30)

toff (an elegantly dressed man, often with affected manners)
"Following Hillary Clinton's lead, the McCain team sees an opportunity to paint Obama as an out-of-touch elitist, a Harvard toff who nibbles daintily at designer salads while the working man, worried about layoffs at the plant, belts another shot." (page 30)

meritocratic (selection based on achievement or intellectual criteria)
ziggurat (a tower with a series of tiers or terraces that decrease in size as they go up)
"He was, despite a modest upbringing, elected editor of the Harvard Law Review, a position at the very tip of the meritocratic ziggurat." (page 31)

© 2008