Long-suffering response

I caught some footage of Bush's speech before the UN General Assembly yesterday, and thought his choice of words was interesting. He was talking about Burma.

(No, it's not that he flaffed a little over Aung San Suu Kyi's name; God love him, he must have practiced that for aaaages.) He said that Americans were 'outraged' by the situation in Burma. Now, outrage to me suggests an initial reaction, it's kind of a response to being shocked by something: "They're doing what? You're kidding! I am outraged!"

But Bush's next sentence said that the situation had been ongoing for 19 years, which just plain undermined his first statement. Either a) Americans have just noticed the situation, which doesn't look good, or b) they knew all along and have been quietly outraged for 19 years, which doesn't look good.

I'd have left a good buffer before I mentioned the 19 years -- or else suggested that the situation this year was even more outrageous than normal, and that's what precipitated some US action.

I just noticed - U2's Walk On (dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi) is playing in the background. Love that symmetry! And you can see an amazing live version of Walk On right here...