TEFLON NOUN (POLITICS)

Used attributively of a politician or political administration, in Teflon politician, Teflon presidency, Teflon president, etc.: able to shrug off scandal or misjudgement and deflect criticism on to others, so that nothing 'sticks'. Etymology: A metaphorical use of the trade mark Teflon, a non-stick polymer coating used on saucepans and other cooking utensils. History and Usage: This sense was invented by US Congresswoman Pat Schroeder in August 1983, when she said in Congress: After carefully watching Ronald Reagan he is attempting a breakthrough in political technology--he has been perfecting the Teflon coated Presidency. He sees to it that nothing sticks to him. The imagery proved very successful in political life, and was later applied to a number of other politicians--at local and national level--who somehow managed to ensure that someone else was blamed for any scandals or misjudgements involving their administration. The Mayor is celebrated for...distancing himself as far as possible from whatever may have gone wrong...The executive director of the largest local public-employees' union has called him 'the Teflon mayor'. New Yorker 28 Jan. 1985, p. 74 Presidential assistant Richard Darman told me that the so-called Teflon phenomenon--the fact that blame never seemed to stick to President Reagan, even after such disasters as the Beirut suicide bombing...--was directly related to journalists' tendency to emphasize personality over substance. Mark Hertsgaard On Bended Knee (1988), p. 67