January 26, 2009 12:01PM 

# De-Emphasis 101 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Greg Pierce of the *Washington Times*’ [Inside Politics](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/23/inside-politics-78939109/) column recently investigated whether the Obama administration was dropping the overwrought phrase “war on terror.”

> De-emphasizing the war metaphor would be a significant change. But if it is a deliberate change, the White House does not want to acknowledge it.

You see, trumpeting de-emphasis doesn’t generally work…

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) 

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