Teflon (nickname)

Teflon is a nickname given to persons, particularly in politics, to whom criticism does not seem to stick. The term comes from Teflon, the brand name of a "non-stick" chemical used on cookware, and was first applied to the American President Ronald Reagan.

History

The phrase "Teflon president" was coined in 1983 by Patricia Schroeder, then a Democratic Congresswoman from Colorado, who said of then-President Reagan,

Her characterization did stick, and the phrase "Teflon President" entered the American political lexicon. [cite web |url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/347900.html |title=Teflon president |accessdate=2007-09-25 |quote= |publisher= ] [cite news |first=Patricia |last=Schroeder |authorlink=Patricia Schroeder |coauthors= |title=Nothing stuck to 'Teflon' president. |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-06-06-schroeder_x.htm |quote=As a young congresswoman, I got the idea of calling President Reagan the "Teflon president" while fixing eggs for my kids. He had a Teflon coat like the pan. |publisher=USA Today |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] Jerrold M. Post, Director of the Political Psychology Program for the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, has written that " [Reagan's] followers actively ignored data that disconfirmed their idealization" of [him] , thus contributing to his image as the 'Teflon' President." [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3gvOt6l3pWIC&pg=PA39&dq=teflon+clinton&as_brr=3&sig=usc6F2W7WDudM5oCn7N5HnrZkrs#PPA39,M1
author=Jerrold M. Post
title=The Political Psychology of the Ross Perot Phenomenon
editor=Stanley Allen Renshon
work=The Clinton Presidency: Campaigning, Governing, and the Psychology of Leadership
year=1995
publisher=Westview Press] Although his approval numbers "plummeted" as the Iran-Contra Affair unfolded, his "immense popularity ... was largely unscathed", and when his term ended he had the highest approval ratings of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. [cite web
url=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/biography_pages/reagan/biography.html
title=Ronald Reagan Biography
publisher=The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
accessdate=2007-11-01]

The American political magazine Mother Jones has dubbed it "one of the most durable political metaphors of our time."cite news
url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/05/teflon_is_forever.html
title=Teflon is Forever
author=Leslie Savan
date=May/June 2007
publisher=Mother Jones
accessdate=2007-10-31] The Washington Post said in 1992 that Schroeder had been " the only Democrat who ever came up with a derogatory label that stuck to President Reagan". [cite news
url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74032547.html?dids=74032547:74032547&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=JUN+17%2C+1992&author=JUDY+MANN&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=A+Vote+for+%60Someone+a+Little+Different'&pqatl=google
title=A Vote for `Someone a Little Different'
author=Judy Mann
date=June 17, 1992
publisher=Washington Post
accessdate=2007-10-31] Nevertheless, Schroeder has more recently expressed dismay over the impact the phrase had, and said in 2004 following Reagan's death, cquote|I was hoping people would say, "Yes, he is commander in chief, he should be responsible." Instead people said, "Yes, that is a Teflon coat. How do I get one of those?"cite news
url=http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=REAGAN-SCHROEDER-06-09-04&cat=WW
title='Teflon' moniker didn't have intended effect on Reagan
author=M. E. Sprenglemeyer
date=June 9 2004
publisher=Scripps Howard News Service
accessdate=2007-10-31]

It's also been applied to mafia boss John Gotti, called "The Teflon Don". [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title='Teflon Don' jailed for life. |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/23/newsid_2518000/2518975.stm |quote=Judge Leo Glasser's sentencing brought to a close the long quest to convict the man nicknamed the "Teflon Don". |publisher=BBC |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

Usage outside US

The usage of the "teflon" metaphor seems to be spreading outside the US too.

United Kingdom

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is often referred to in the press as Teflon Tony. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The collapse of Teflon Tony. |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/peter_riddell/article588490.ece |quote=Yesterday's defeat in the Commons is a serious blow for Labour's credibility as a governing party. |publisher=The Times |date=November 10, 2005 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

Canada

Ralph Klein, long-time premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, was often referred to as a "Teflon" Premier. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Bush, Kerry (and Ralph Klein) on Latin America: The bi-partisan offensive against Cuba, Venezuela. |url=http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/13_latin_america.html |quote=It turns out Klein recently submitted a paper on Chilean history, as part of a communications course he’s taking at Athasbasca University. It also turns out that large portions of the essay are copied from articles on the internet, without proper citation. The plagiarism may or may not hurt Klein’s popularity, given the Teflon Conservative’s long record of debauchery, including a drunken night of poor-bashing at an Edmonton homeless shelter. |publisher=Seven Oaks |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

Republic of Ireland

It has been applied to Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (known as the Teflon Taoiseach) as scandal after scandal failed to have any lasting effect on him, [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Teflon Taoiseach's brilliant career loses its well-polished shine. |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/comment/0,,1885080,00.html |quote=So why has the so-called Teflon Taoiseach, who was relatively untouched by the disgrace of his former close political allies, Charles Haughey and Ray Burke, been left looking so vulnerable? |publisher=New York Times |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] until he was forced to resign in 2008.

Australia

In Australia the name Teflon Johnny has been coined to describe Prime Minister John Howard. Other Australian public figures that have been called "teflon coated" include Queensland Premier, Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen and Prime Minister, Paul Keating.

References