Lady, Your Halo's Slipping

Would the world have as much time for Aung San Suu Kyi if she didn't seem so elegant and poised? It is an uncomfortable question. For much of two decades, the 67-year-old democracy activist endured confinement at the hands of Burma's ruling generals, refusing a life in exile with her family, lest it compromise her quest for democracy. Her Mandela-like forbearance earned her the sobriquet of the Lady — also the title of the hagiographic 2011 biopic — and with those trademark blossoms in her hair, she came to stand for a gracious, transcendental purity. When Barack Obama visited...