Mr Riordan has the opposite of the Irish gift of the gab: he is frequently too tongue-tied to say anything, and when he does manage to speak he often uses the wrong words.

ECONOMIST: Los Angeles

His Howard comes on as a Gatsby with the gift of blunt gab and the passion of an Icarus for risky flight.

WSJ: A Flashy, Flawed 'Aviator'

With his gift of gab, Obama could also offer the Iranian protest movement a tad more support in the form of a name--if not something for the Iranians themselves, then at least something Americans could latch on to.

FORBES: Freedom's Edge