Friday, July 18, 2008

Sinister Candidates

Yesterday, I was conversing about the election with a co-worker of mine, and the conversation turned to the subject of left-handed politicians.

It just so happens that I'm left-handed, so I'm always interested in discussing fellow southpaws.

Senators Obama and McCain are both left-handed. But that is not another historic "first" for this election. There was at least one other matchup of left-handers in a general election for president. That was in 1992, when Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush. Now, I'm all for the advancement of left-handed people but, all else being equal, I'd rather see a left-handed Republican win, rather than a left-handed Democrat. But as one famous singer (right-handed, as far as I know), has said, "you can't always get what you want". (Ross Perot, who pursued a third-party candidacy in 1992, is also a southpaw).

The word "sinister" is derived from the Latin for "left".

I'm sure there are people who consider McCain to be sinister. Also, some would apply that epithet to Obama. And, alas, a few probably think them both sinister. But many of those people probably don't realize that, as applied to handedness, their comments are not insulting, but merely accurate.

2 comments:

Carole Seawert said...

Obama paid a visit to England a couple of days ago and met with, among others, the Conservative leader, David Cameron, who is also left handed.

schiller1979 said...

Carole, I did not know that. So we have the Atlantic surrounded!