that defined Enron to ... presidential sex

I think "presidential sex" might mean "the love affair that tarnished Clinton's presidency".

"That defined Enron" means that "corporate environmental malfeasance, mutual fund fraud and the mega-bilking" endow Enron with the definition that is as the same as the definition of "presidential sex", or of "schoolroom plagiarism", or of "Martha Stewart's minor-league insider trading".

Right?

"Corporate environmental malfeasance" has to do with things like violations of the Clean Air Act. Corporations are not playing by the rules in a lot of ways, this refers to polluting and violating rules on pollution by doing so, and therefore harming the environment.

"The mega-bilking that defined Enron" -- Enron is a company that did bad things, like bilk people (fool/ steal from them) on a large scale. (The "mega-" prefix means large.)

"Presidential sex" probably refers to Clinton, yes, though that's not exactly contemporaneous with the other issues mentioned.

"Characteristic" is pretty straightforward, typical, as characterized by, that sort of thing. The author is saying that the "public immortality" is characteristic of America, and equally characteristic (equally true of America, just as characteristic of America) is the "obsession with values."

It's a run-on sentence with a lot of allusions to current events in America -- if you're not aware of those events, it's confusing. The use (or lack thereof) of commas is odd. It's understandable, but not great writing.

Hi Sozobe, Thanks for reply.

(1) equally = generally = ubiquitously?
(2) pundit publications = expert publications?

(1) No, equally. Just as. The same. "When the green bucket is filled with 1 gallon of water and the red bucket is filled with water, they are equally full."

(2) The meaning of "pundit" has less to do with actual expertise than expressing informed opinions; less textbook, more Op-Ed page.

Op-Ed = Opinion & Editorial?

Re: that defined Enron to ... presidential sex


This whole piece is a literary mess!
It is incorrect grammatically, poorly punctuated, and therefore virtually meaningless!

attempting to rewrite:

"from malfeasance in the corporate environment, mutual fund fraud and the mega-bilking that defined Enron, to minor-league insider trading by Martha Stewart, schoolroom plagiarism and presidential sex, the United States is experiencing one of many recurrent waves of public immorality -- and an equally characteristic obsession with values, family and other matters, on talk shows, campaign hustings, and in pundit publications."

it still suffers badly from poor style!!

Ah thanks BoGoWo, and if possible, I'd like to see opinions from Roberta, McTag, Setanta, Piffka etc.