“I think we cannot underscore the threat …”

Self-negation

I heard this a week ago on CNN.

Problem:
The speaker said the opposite of what she meant.

Explanation:
U.S. Secretary of State Clinton said on April 22, 2009, “I think we cannot underscore the threat …” in a presentation to the U.S. Congress, and the CNN television network broadcast it on April 23.

I do not recall the end of the statement, but I do remember that Secretary Clinton did not include the word “enough” in her statement.

If I recall correctly, the “threat” referred to the threat of the Taliban taking control of Pakistan’s nuclear arms.

Secretary Clinton was trying to say that she could not overemphasize the threat.

The verb “underscore” in this context simply means underline or pay attention to, not overemphasize.

The solution comes from including the adverb “enough” or the adverb “sufficiently” in the statement.

The Secretary’s misstatement is equivalent to someone saying “I could care less.” when he or she should say instead “I could not care less.”

Solution:
“I think we cannot underscore enough the threat …”