For those who are not yet fluent in Obama-ese:
- compromise – (1) verb – [when applied to Republicans] to surrender; (2) verb – [when applied to Democrats] to pretend to negotiate
- lead – verb – to provide a plan
- plan – (1) noun – teleprompted platitudes unencumbered by specific goals or means of execution; (2) noun – specific goals and means of execution developed by Republicans and rejected by Democrats
- tax – noun – job creating mechanism …
- job – noun – an activity intended to produce tax revenue
- millionaire – noun – citizen with a non-union private sector job …
- hate – verb – disagree …
Russ Emerson’s Obama vocabulary list also helps you understand many otherwise confusing idioms:
- let – verb – watch
- clear – adjective – equivocal
Thus, “let me be clear“ means “watch me be equivocal.”