sub-'junc-tive

President Obama was scheduled to be in central New Jersey to talk about the economy, but he will not be in central New Jersey today. The trip, likely involving a factory tour, brief chat with workers and spoken remarks in front of assembled TV cameras, was quietly canceled over the weekend. With the evolving enormity of the Gulf oil spill becoming apparent, that already-announced midweek New Jersey trip now would look as if the President weren’t⁵ paying adequate attention to this real environmental crisis.
But the incident -- the actual story that didn’t happen -- is a great opportunity to speculate about it.
Like any of Obama's trips, even a cancelled one requires complex advance planning, for example that a factory tour route be scouted¹, usually with instructions to avoid places requiring that the president wear¹ a hardhat, which along with those goofy bike helmets, he does not like. But if everything goes well, no one will ever hear or see⁶ anything about the advance teams, which will be enroute to the president's next trip-stop before he's back in the White House.
If Obama were in New Jersey today, he would talk² with a few employees, who prior to the visit were cleared for immigration status and child support delinquencies. Were this trip taking place right now, top-notch sound equipment and lighting, risers for the TV cameras to see over any crowd and, most importantly, the proper backdrop for the president's remarks would ensure² its utter success. If the factory backdrop is ideal, immense (but silent) industrial equipment will impress but not distract⁶ viewers during the eight- or nine-second sound bite the prep teams hope to garner for their boss. Yet, even if everything is to their liking, the prep teams will still need⁶ to carry cans of women's hair spray, which dull the glaring sheen on those large banners often hanging over the stage.
It is crucial that the security team plan¹ only one travel route from the presidential aircraft to the plant. Safety requires that there be¹ at least two alternatives and that only those on a Secret Service radio frequency know which one will be taken. They then request that the local police department station¹ officers along the way.
Had the prep team known that this New Jersey trip wasn’t going to happen, lots of time and money would have been saved³. However, although going to Louisiana instead of New Jersey did absolutely nothing to stop the oil, advance the recovery or mitigate any damage beyond that potentially to the president's image if he hadn't gone ³, in the face of a natural disaster it was essential that he not make¹ Bush's mistakes, including his well-intentioned but strategically stupid flyover of New Orleans. (Adapted from the Los Angeles Times article “President Obama's non-visit to New Jersey”)


The subjunctive mood expresses what someone/something might be or do, should be or do, or must be or do, in other words what is contrary to fact. It is used to express a wish, a command, or a contingent or hypothetical event.

1. In clauses that express what one wants, hopes, or imagines happening/what needs to happen:
1.a. It is vital that the backdrop be ideal.
1.b. He demanded that his press secretary hold his temper.
1.c. It was essential that the trip be cancelled.
1.d. The set-up requires that the program be running smoothly.
1.e. The situation requires that BP not be let off the hook.
This structure using the infinitive of a verb (regardless whether the sentence is present or past tense) is used typically after verbs like ask, command, demand, insist, propose, recommend, request that and after expressions like it is desirable/essential/important/vital/necessary that

2. In if-clauses when they express that something is not possible/not true in the present:
2.a. If he were in New Jersey, he would talk about the economy.
2.b. If he had a double, he could be in both places at the same time.

3. In if-clauses when they express that something is not possible/not true in the past:
3.a. If I had known about the oil-spill, they would have planned things differently.

4. In sentences that express a wish:
4.a. I wish off shore drilling were less dangerous.

5. With as if/as though to express that something is not true/not possible:
5.a. They behave as if they were not responsible for the whole mess.
To express the hypothetical nature of the statements in 2-5, the verb forms are backshifted, i.e. a condition in the present is expressed through the verb in the past tense, a condition in the past through the verb in past perfect.

6. When an if-sentence, however, speculates about something that is possible or true in general, the normal tense is used.
6.a. If you don't use the subjunctive to speculate about a situation that is NOT possible, you will be completely misunderstood.