Sunday, October 23, 2005
SINGER SURPRISED
In shock news, it turns out that the US President is better informed than an Irish singer on international trade issues. Due to its controversial nature, this information is gently delivered by a very cautious journalist:
Irish rocker Bono drew laughter from an audience at the University of Pennsylvania last night as he tried to diplomatically describe a discussion he had Wednesday with President Bush about aid to Africa.
Bono, an advocate for African aid for more than two decades, broke up the audience of World Affairs Council members in the cavernous Irvine Auditorium as he appeared to struggle to find a nonjudgmental way of saying he had been surprised Bush knew so much about the negative effects of American trade on Africa.
Bono backed away from using the word surprised, and also backed away from saying he was “delighted” by the level of the President’s knowledge.
Finally he said he thought Bush was much better briefed about the trade problem than he was.
Bono was wearing sunglasses at the time.