the cart or the horse?

[victor steinbok]

This is actually kind of interesting for two reasons. In this
particular instance, the media is being blamed for getting their
priorities screwed up. Yet, for most right-wing commentators,
particularly Glenn Beck, Obama's priorities may well be described as
"putting the cart before the horse", as they want him to be agonizing
over global issues rather than playing golf and paying attention to
college basketball. And yet another group of conservatives (e.g., a
column in the lunatic Washington Examiner) things that it's the
critics who got the cart before the horse--since the critics already
believe that Obama is a horrible president, shouldn't they be glad
that he's immersed in golf and basketball instead of "screwing up"
international developments?

The whole media preoccupation with Obama's basketball picks is quite
laughable and the viewer's sentiment quite understandable. But, in the
light of other interpretations of these events, is it any wonder that
his metaphor does not map "correctly"?

VS-)

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:00 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A CNN viewer scolds that by interrupting coverage of Japan and Libya to
> report on President Obama's sports picks, the network is "putting the cart
> before the horse."
>
> She unmistakably means "granting priority to the wrong thing."
>
> To non-native speakers of Inglish like me, to "put the cart before the
> horse" means to do or to reason about two things, foolishly or illogically,
> in the reverse order.
>
> JL

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