A tall stack of index cards and a magnifier next to a small gray owl figurine in big round glasses.

Original artwork, not a still

Lewis

Mood swings? Nineteen post-graduate degrees in mathematics, and your best explanation for going from a 63 to a 46 percent approval rating in five weeks is mood swings?

— The American President  ·  1995

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker is incredulous that someone with nineteen advanced mathematics degrees blames a steep fall in approval ratings on mood swings. The sarcasm points to a mismatch between great expertise and a flimsy explanation for such a dramatic drop in five weeks.

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