Instead – and with the exception of the nicely upfront bowling coach David Saker – there seems to be some kind of invisible protective membrane at managerial level, an ingrained slipperiness.
He has also displayed a worrying, somewhat Clintonian slipperiness on difficult issues, both trivial (whether he would wear a flag-pin) and significant (whether he would talk to rogue states).
Mr Netanyahu's continuing slipperiness over the settlements has made Israel's allies and neighbours wonder how much the prime minister wants to make peace.
The effect on public attitudes to government, and thus on government's ability to act, may be felt only when another prime minister asks the country to trust his case for war.Yet the evidence of slipperiness and sloppiness that continues to drip out more may emerge if Gordon Brown eventually makes good on his pledge to hold a full inquiry into the war commands little attention.
Was this television performance, many speculated, just another of his ploys to stay in power, whether as a leader or behind the scenes?Mr Saleh's capacity for slipperiness and manipulation is legendary.
Mr Booker says the extra slipperiness cuts fuel consumption by around 1%, so that the coating treatment pays for itself within a few months.There may also be a way to cut aircraft drag by making some surfaces less slippery.
Words fascinated him, with their "faithlessness" and slipperiness, with the way they could clarify like a shaft of daylight and then spread confusion like a mist.
His perceived slipperiness and inconsistency as a candidate worry them much more.Moreover, in some early-voting states with lots of Mormons, such as Nevada and Arizona, Mr Romney's faith should actually help him.
And the Conservatives, hoping to remind voters of Tony Blair's slipperiness, have chosen "accountability," a buzzword strikingly short of buzz.Labour has circulated posters on the internet starring Mr Howard.
All the more galling for him, he spoke at Abbottabad's military academy, within waving distance of the most wanted terrorist in the world.A waning starEver since evading his pursuers in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in November 2001, Mr bin Laden's slipperiness in the face of America's efforts to find him had inspired jihadists everywhere.
"If you want to marry a new wife," he said, "you have to divorce the old one first".Depending on whom you believe, this represented hubris on the part of Mr Dudley or slipperiness by AAR.
