Tender and sympathetic though she is to her subjects' compulsions, and difficult though it is to be completely immune to the appeal of dissolute lives in our timid time, it mostly makes for depressing reading, which was, perhaps, her point.
Stewart was able to pull things into focus, saying that the Administration's way of doing things "has felt timid at times," and Obama responded that there was nothing timid or "inconsequential" about getting thirty million people on the insurance rolls.
Mr. Stewart, for his part, pressed the president with the standard liberal critique, accusing him of pursuing a legislative agenda that "felt timid at times" — a characterization Mr. Obama fiercely disputed.
E-mail address GO SIGN UP Share Tweet Stewart was able to pull things into focus, saying that the Administration's way of doing things "has felt timid at times," and Obama responded that there was nothing timid or "inconsequential" about getting thirty million people on the insurance rolls.
Mr. Gore's energetic display was meant to counter criticism that he had been too timid last time; Mr. Bush's demeanor, which several commentators called "sleepy," seemed intended to play it safe and protect his slight lead.
We may agree with Polly Toynbee that, scarred by the many dreadful years in the wilderness when Labour failed to attract a strong, progressive coalition, they were too timid as time passed about championing explicitly the strong statist and redistributive elements of their policies, for fear of frightening the horses.
Read: 10 Best Apps for Timid First-Time Investors.
When Mr. Bush has come out, he has appeared at times timid and tense, some Republican officials acknowledge, and Mr. Cheney has seemed on the verge of overshadowing him.
In the mind of Democrats, a doughty, if at times timid, advocate of the government's power to do good is facing down a tea-party nutcase; Republicans see a common-sense citizen-candidate standing up to a scheming spendthrift Washington insider.In other words, there is scope for a profound and sweeping ideological debate.
