“(Must) Destroy Islamic State in the Parent Tumor of this Cancer”; “the Great Rock of Sisyphus for One President After Another”--Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize Something

Here are some recent examples of articulate people using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative use of the language, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• During an interview last month (April 18) in Iraq, here’s how Defense Secretary Ash Carter responded when asked by NBC’s Lester Holt why more troops are being sent to that country: “It is necessary to destroy (the Islamic State) in the (pause) parent tumor of this cancer, which is here in Iraq and Syria. That’s where this thing arose in the first place and we need to destroy it there physically and also the idea that there can be a state based on this evil ideology.”

 

• [From a March 21, 2014, edition of “Washington Week in Review,” the notes for which I stumbled upon just a few days ago] Discussing President Obama’s foreign policy agenda, Michael Crowley of Time magazine saying: “The Middle East peace process, which is the great rock of Sisyphus for one president after another, and he’s pushing that boulder and he may think that if only I can get this boulder to the top of the hill, I will have a legacy, but it’s a real long shot.”

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal