Sesquipedalianism

Look it up.

Or read this piece by Dick Cavett.

I won't be as hard on General Petraeus for his chest full of hardware. Tradition and all that. But Dick Cavett is spot-on regarding the sesquipedalianism of Petraeus' and Crocker's language.

Politics aside, wouldn't Harry Truman's plain speaking be a blessing nowadays?

I have sometimes said that "comfort in his own skin" is an attribute of every great political leader. I wonder if "plain speaking" would not work as well as a universal discriptor of Clinton, Reagan, Lincoln, and now, Obama, and other effective leaders.

Or good preachers, for that matter.

The pontificating sesquipedalianists ... well, sometimes I suspect they are just desperately trying to obfuscate the unpleasant or to make nonsense or confusion or ignorance sound erudite.