Final Word from Thursday, February 7, 2008
Václav Klaus might bristle at the thought of being compared to Hillary Clinton, but in at least one way they're identical. They both say that to predict how they would behave in the future, it's enough to look at how they have behaved in the past. Such a statement is a "velvet shiv" in the back of their main political rivals, who Klaus and Clinton say have no track record. But does the world truly need "experienced" politicians? The world is a mess, and this mess was caused or deepened by concrete individuals. It's a sign of the times that hundreds of these individuals gathered in Davos to discuss how to extract the world from the very mess they got it into. It's completely naive, of course, to think that these people will recognize that they themselves are the problem. And it's just as naive to think that presidential elections in the USA or the CR, regardless of who wins, will change things.[Czech Republic United States of America Switzerland]
Glossary of difficult words
to bristle - to react defensively or angrily, typically by drawing oneself up;
shiv - a sharp instrument used as a weapon, often in a street-gang or prison context;
velvet shiv -a sharp comment that is disguised in polite language;
rivals - Klaus's main rival in this respect is Jan Švejnar, and Clinton's is Barack Obama;
track record - a person's achievements or experiences;
Davos, Switzerland - site of the World Economic Forum;
to extract - to remove or take out.