Obama the schvitzer
Bookworm on Mar 24 2008 at 10:14 am | Filed under: Barack Obama
“Schvitzer” is a wonderful Yiddish word. Its literal meaning, derived from German, is “to sweat.” Yiddish, however, has layered something entirely different on top of it: a Schvitzer is an empty boaster, one who doesn’t actually do anything, but who presents himself at the end of the project covered with righteous perspiration. A recent Obama report provides the perfect (and true) anecdote to help one fully understand what a schvitzer really is:
After weeks of arduous negotiations, on April 6, 2006, a bipartisan group of senators burst out of the “President’s Room,” just off the Senate chamber, with a deal on new immigration policy.
As the half-dozen senators — including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) — headed to announce their plan, they met Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who made a request common when Capitol Hill news conferences are in the offing: “Hey, guys, can I come along?” And when Obama went before the microphones, he was generous with his list of senators to congratulate — a list that included himself.
“I want to cite Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, myself, Dick Durbin, Joe Lieberman . . . who’ve actually had to wake up early to try to hammer this stuff out,” he said.
To Senate staff members, who had been arriving for 7 a.m. negotiating sessions for weeks, it was a galling moment. Those morning sessions had attracted just three to four senators a side, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) recalled, each deeply involved in the issue. Obama was not one of them.
Hat tip: American Thinker
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2 Responses to “Obama the schvitzer”
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Schivtzer? You are right, he is. And those who follow him are mishiginers (Southern Yiddish spelling).
Eric.
He’ll take the credit for following in Truman’s shoes as well. Whether he actually has to authorize the use of a thermonuclear device or not, depends.