Speaking Politics phrase of the week: 'most important election of my lifetime'
鈥淭he most important election of my/our lifetime鈥�:聽The hyperbolic phrase that partisans trot out before every presidential contest to rally the troops.
The Democratic National Convention saw numerous deployments of the expression from hard-core Donald Trump critics: 鈥淓mpire鈥� co-creator House minority leader , and Hillary Clinton鈥檚 daughter,聽 Business Insider鈥檚 Josh Barro also 鈥淭his is the most important election of my lifetime, and also the strangest, because one candidate clears basic bars of sanity and competence and the other does not.鈥�
Even before the Philadelphia gathering, some activists said they really and truly mean it this time. Writing in The Hill, former congressional staffer and law student Evan Berryhill the election is an open-seat contest, with control of the Senate and the likely future of the Supreme Court up for grabs.
鈥淚n this election cycle, it may be more than just lip service,鈥� Mr. Berryhill wrote.
We鈥檝e heard it all before. The Los Angeles Times鈥� Roy Rivenburg in 2004 the expression 鈥渢he most overused superlative ever,鈥� pointing to its use 鈥渓ike a mantra鈥� at that year鈥檚 Democratic convention. Indeed, in congressional floor debates, 鈥渕ost important election鈥� first 12 years ago, according to the Sunlight Foundation鈥檚 awesome CapitolWords.
It spiked again in 2012, the website found. That year, conservative talk-show host and columnist Dennis Prager 鈥淭he usual description of presidential elections 鈥� 鈥榯he most important election of our lifetime鈥� 鈥� is true this time. In fact, it may be the most important election since the Civil War, and possibly since America鈥檚 founding.鈥� He made two years earlier, in a non-presidential cycle.
Why does it persist? The Washington Post鈥檚 Philip Bump that it 鈥渢akes advantage of one of the quirks of human psychology: immediacy. Nothing is ever more important than what's happening in the moment, both because past emotional peaks fade and because the present is the moment you can affect. Sure, we know the invasion of Normandy was big what with the liberation of Europe and all that, but we can't actually do anything about it. As a call to future action, history isn't that great.鈥�
He found that The New York Times鈥� earliest usage was in 1856 in reference to a Pennsylvania congressional election, with the Nexis database tracing it back to Nancy Reagan in 1980. 鈥淭his is the most important election of my life,鈥� Mrs. Reagan said. "The outcome will affect the nation and the world.鈥�
But like many clich茅s, it鈥檚 lost whatever power it once had, the Post鈥檚 Callum Borchers last year: 鈥淚f anything, it reminds people of all the times they鈥檝e heard this before, discovered that the world didn鈥檛 end when their candidate lost, then realized that the stakes maybe weren鈥檛 quite as high as they were led to believe.鈥�
In fact, CNBC鈥檚 Jeff Cox the coming election may be the听濒别补蝉迟 important of our lifetime. He pointed to the for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
鈥淵ou need important candidates to have an important election,鈥� Mr. Cox wrote. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something this one most definitely lacks.鈥�
Chuck McCutcheon writes his 鈥淪peaking Politics鈥� blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥� is
