America's next president

A leftie bent

A sinister aspect of the presidential campaign

WHETHER Barack Obama or John McCain triumphs in November, the victor will be the eighth left-handed president of America. While making up just 10% of the general populace, 18% of American presidents have been lefties, perhaps given extra drive by centuries of persecution. Of the past six presidents, four have been cack-handed. Left-handedness was traditionally regarded as an unnatural aberration—“sinister” is derived from the Latin for left and the word “left” itself comes from an Anglo-Saxon term for “weak” or “broken”. Ronald Reagan was one of many southpaws forced to write with the “right” hand.