Weekend Word Wrap: Picking a candidate based on grammar?  Image
credit:   I'll tell you what: if I were President, I'd make sure
the subjunctive doesn't get left behind. Just look what's going
on these days in the news.  now.ferraro.jpgA lot has been said
about Geraldine Ferarro's recent gaffe. And while the pundits
continue to volley this one back and forth—"She's a racist,"
"She meant nothing by it," "She blah, blah, blah"—I'd like to
take issue with her statement on another front. I mean, honestly
people, what is the deal with major politicians, heads of state
and world leaders dissing the subjunctive? It's one thing for a
bubble-gum pop singer to question What if God Was One of Us? but
how Geraldine Ferarro doesn't know the difference between
was/were is beyond me.  And here's the thing that really gets
me: she missed the subjunctive not once, but TWICE. First she
said, "If Obama was a white man," and then moments later she
said, "And if he was a woman"¦"
obama_sc_04_01_2007-731285.jpgOf course, if