I don’t want a “Maverick” president.
Noun
Singular
maverick
Plural
mavericks
maverick (plural mavericks)
- An unbranded range animal.
- One who does not abide by rules.
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): One who creates or uses unconventional and/or controversial ideas or practices.
- (poker slang) A queen and a jack as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maverick
The McCain/Palin campaign has been using the term “maverick” quite a lot lately. They’ve said that both McCain and Palin are mavericks. I assume that they are trying to distance themselves from the current administration without using any of the democrat’s buzzwords.
Mavericks are cool right? Tom Cruise was Maverick in Top Gun. James Garner and Mel Gibson were Bret Maverick the well dressed poker player and con man. Who wants Maverick as a president?
Let’s start with the first definition. We can all probably agree that there are no “unbranded range animal[s]” in the race. Sure, the childish folks out there might name call, but in reality it’s not happening. I think I can safely ignore that definition.
The second definition is where it get’s interesting. The McCain/Palin campaign surely can’t mean that the candidates will not abide by rules or should I say “laws.” This definition clearly works for the current administration. The Bush regime has no problem breaking the rules and ignoring those pesky laws that obviously don’t apply. The campaign may defend this usage by saying that they mean the rule of corruption and garbage that has infested the government. The problem with this argument is that you’d have to say McCain does not follow the rule because he follows the rules. This does not work for the common usage of the term. I think they want to say that he’s not afraid (to use a cliché) to think and work outside the box to solve the country’s problems. I don’t think that works for me.
Number three doesn’t sound very appealing either. I don’t want any surprises from the next president. I don’t want to worry about an unpredictable cowboy with his finger on the trigger. I’m not saying that McCain/Palin are all that. What I’m saying is that the term “maverick” implies reckless, unpredictable, careless. Is that what the M/P campaign thinks American wants?
The 4th definition, like the first, doesn’t really apply unless you want to do some name calling.