|
Reader question: Please explain this sentence – "One tux a term. That's our idea of outreach to the Washington community" (George Bush's legacy - The frat boy ships out, The Economist, January 15, 2009) – and "One tux a term" in particular. My comments: It means that George Bush doesn't hang out every day with bureaucrats in Washington. In fact, he doesn't hang out with them at all – it appears he tries to bypass bureaucrats instead. Washington community refers to the political establishment in Washington DC. Outreach means reaching out – making an effort to coddle relationships. Term refers to the term of office for a President, or four years in duration. Tux is short for tuxedo, the funny looking black jacket with a swallow's tail worn by important men on formal occasions, such as prevalent amongst the political community in Washington. Bush the 43rd president of the United States doesn't go to such occasions wearing a tux. In fact he does it about once in four years, one tux a term hence. That is to say, the 43rd president hates these occasions to mingle with professional politicians. He hates the fact that they are formal, in form only. There's nothing real about them. He hates the Washington bureaucrats in general for the same reason – Bureaucrats may look fine in attire and be high-sounding in speech, but they are intolerably slow moving when it comes to, say, war waging. | 
