Final Word from Thursday, November 6, 2008
Saturday Night Live had a triumph with its imitations of the U.S. presidential candidates, esp. Tina Fey's rendition of Sarah Palin. Prague is short on impersonators, but perhaps some of the country's comical politicians could stage a Czech version of SNL for TV Nova. Václav Klaus would make a nice John McCain in terms of being an angry old man and having a propensity for choosing hot young (running) mates. When Vlasta Parkanová puts on her tight little soldier's uniform, she looks like Sarah Palin getting ready for Putin to rear his ugly head. Pavel Bém has some of Barack Obama in him in terms of their cloudy connections. David Rath shares Joe Biden's gift of the gab. And Václav Havel brings to mind Obama when he blames the less-than-flourishing economy on the old guard and gives pie-in-the-sky speeches about truth and love prevailing over lies and hate. All that's missing is someone to spoil all the fun by telling Czechs, using Obama's post-election bombshell, that a new spirit of sacrifice will be needed.[Czech Republic NBC United States of America]
Glossary of difficult words
Live from Prague - Saturday Night Live always opens its show with the line, "Live from New York, it's Saturday night";
rendition - a performance or interpretation;
comical - meaning both "funny" and "ridiculous";
SNL - Saturday Night Live;
propensity - an inclination to behave in a particular way (an allusion to Klaus's alleged affair with a flight attendant);
running mate - an election candidate who runs with someone seeking a higher office;
cloudy - not transparent or clear;
gift of the gab - ability to speak nonsense;
pie-in-the-sky - something that is pleasant to contemplate but is very unlikely to be realized;
bombshell - an overwhelming surprise or disappointment;
new spirit of sacrifice - from Obama's victory speech.