word of the day

Schadenfreude.

Some Canadians felt it as they listened to the verdict in the Conrad Black case.

And some of us who spend much of our working lives reporting to bureaucrats on products, outcomes, deliverables, timelines, etcetera, felt a little schadenfreudish as we listened to George Bush Jr. defend the fact that his war strategy has been judged not satisfactory on eight out of eighteen benchmarks.

"Two months ago, ... Congress established 18 benchmarks to gauge the progress of the Iraqi government. ... Today my administration has submitted to Congress an interim report that requires us to assess -- and I quote the bill -- "whether satisfactory progress toward meeting these benchmarks is or is not being achieved."

Of the 18 benchmarks Congress asked us to measure, we can report that satisfactory progress is being made in eight areas. ... In eight other areas, the Iraqis have much more work to do. ... And in two remaining areas, progress was too mixed to be characterized one way or the other.

Those who believe that the battle in Iraq is lost will likely point to the unsatisfactory performance on some of the political benchmarks. Those of us who believe the battle in Iraq can and must be won see the satisfactory performance on several of the security benchmarks as a cause for optimism. ..."

Jr. at the July 12, 2007 press conference

Why schadenfreude? Well, no matter how you feel about the occupation of Iraq, there is delicious justice in seeing how even the mighty struggle when we try to predetermine outcomes in complex situations. And watching the most powerful man in the world trying to justify being marked less than satisfactory was kinda like icing.