A particular parlancical peeverino of mine, "Clearly" is the prime smarter-than-thou salvo, even more pretentious than pundit/pol-preferred "Look." "Clearly" would not be so offensive if it were then followed by something that was self-evident; but it most frequently precedes an opinion that its user means us to take as fact.

I think you are right Hellzapoppin, but sometimes, especially when you are writing persuausively, "clearly" is your friend. I think it is okay to use "clearly" if it is preceded by several factual statements and then inserted as a segue to the conclusion. It does sound awfully pretentious though.