Sanctimonious

I don’t know that I agree with the Obama-McDonald tax-cut cave, but at least Obama was able to send Americans to the dictionary to find what the word “sanctimonious” means, when he used that term to describe liberal democrats who objected to his compromise/cave. On December 7, Obama described such democrats as “sanctimonious” (and liberally “purist”) in opposing his compromise with Republicans on tax-cut extensions for the wealthy (1/10 of 1% controls 11% of the wealth in this country; 10% controls 23% of the income). After Obama’s speech, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary reported a spike in look-ups for “sanctimonious.” Maybe Obama is positioning himself to become the new “education president.” It’s certainly more refreshing having him actual English words than Sarah Palin’s coining terms such as “refudiate,” whatever that might mean.