"He just hasn't got the leadership or influence to craft a more ambitious proposal.
But what does it all mean as Europe gently frazzles and David Goodhart, ex-editor of Prospect, now director of the Demos thinktank, pens an ambitious FT article (paywall) promoting a new settlement for British politics, what he calls "post-liberalism"?
Lord knows how all this may be abused by future governments which in terms of numbers may be rather more ambitious than yours.
Salmond, who took to the stage at the Glasgow Science Centre on the south side of the Clyde with his trusted deputy Sturgeon, deployed ambitious – though rather less bloodthirsty – language.
This is big talk, ambitious stuff, setting the bar high.
The play – based on the story of the chemist Clara Immerwahr, who killed herself after the poison gas invented by her husband, Fritz Haber, was used for mass murder in the first world war – is the most ambitious yet by a director famous for daring productions.
The centres, proposed by the EU in cooperation with Niger, "should be an opportunity to bring ambitious development policies for migrants and for states", said Bernard Cazeneuve, who was in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, for talks with the president.
But the increasing school rolls have not been matched with resources, despite ambitious government targets to cut the ratios of pupils to teachers, desks and books.
This is a highly ambitious target and most psephologists believe that Sinn Fein will probably see its share of vote increase, putting the party in a strong position to overtake the SDLP at the election after this.
I would describe it as transformational because it provided an insight into the reality of what it means to be a young, ambitious, highly intelligent, sometimes single black woman in contemporary America.
Next, he took on healthcare – with some of the worst infant mortality rates in the world, Sierra Leone's programme to abolish user fees for children under five and pregnant mothers was an ambitious and impressive programme of reform.
