Quote: “If Barack Obama were a state, he’d be California.” Maria Shriver.
Figure of Speech: antapodosis (an-ta-PO-do-sis), the extended analogy. From the Greek, meaning “giving back.”
The Kennedy royal family is backing the most Kennedyesque of current candidates, Barack Obama. The latest Kennedy to make the endorsement is Maria Shriver, whose husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, backs aging manly-man John McCain.
Shriver goes all out in her Obama speech, using one of the more elaborate figures. The antapodosis is the DNA of similes, matching similarities like genes. “I mean think about it,” says Shriver of the Obama-California convergence. “Diverse. Open. Smart. Independent. Bucks tradition. Innovative. Inspiring. Dreamer. Leader.”
If Shriver were a state, she’d be Massachusetts. Expensive. Pretentious. Talkative. Pretty. Liberal. Unintentionally funny.
Snappy Answer: “You mean his inhabitants would leave for Oregon and Montana?”