Final Word from Thursday, January 3, 2008
Jan Švejnar's Achilles heel is turning out to be his U.S. citizenship, not his chairmanship of ČSOB's supervisory board. Even Švejnar's wife, Katherine Terrell, said the Communists are right to expect him to give up his U.S. passport if he's elected president. We can't see into Švejnar's mind, but we think it's highly unlikely that he'd be willing to do this. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, renouncing U.S. citizenship is irrevocable and is seen as almost tantamount to treason by the U.S. government. A former citizen's name appears in the Congressional Record, and he can be banned from ever setting foot in the U.S. again. The Czech president would likely be spared this indignity, but it would be almost unfair to expect Švejnar to submit himself to the risk. A more revealing question about his commitment to his homeland is whether he would return permanently to the CR, even if not elected president.[Czech Republic United States of America dual nationality]
Glossary of difficult words
renunciation - the act of renouncing, the formal rejection of something (such as citizenship or marriage);
re-immigration - the return to the place from which one has emigrated;
Achilles heel - a weakness or vulnerable point;
irrevocable - not able to be changed or reversed;
tantamount to - almost the same as;
Congressional Record - the official transcript of the proceedings of the two chambers of the U.S. Congress;
to spare - to refrain from inflicting something on someone;
indignity - treatment that causes one to feel shame or to lose one's dignity;
revealing - making interesting or significant information known about a person's attitude or character.