Posted by: McQ on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 It amazes me that people somehow think that because Bush didn't "speak in person" or rush to the White House that somehow he's "insensitive" to the tragedy in Southeast Asia. Its simply an logical leap with no foundation. Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums -- as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy -- showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and for the rescue and rebuilding work facing such nations as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia.The "sensitivity police" won't accept the fact that the proper official, Colin Powell, Secretary of State, was on the job. And you can be sure that Powell and Bush have talked at length about the tragedy and what the US can do. One can only assume that the critics would rather have had a Bill Clinton style lip-biting session for Bush to prove his sensitivity, much like the sesssion we saw from Clinton as he watched the Hutus murder a million Tutsis in Rwanda. Let's just hope like hell Bush doesn't use an autopen to sign any relief orders. His critics are likely to come completely unglued. UPDATE: "President" Juan Cole tells Bush what he should have done: The Bush administration at first pledged a paltry $15 million, a mysteriously chintzy response to what was obviously an enormous calamity. Bush himself remained on vacation, and now has reluctantly agreed to a meeting of the National Security Council by video conference. If Bush were a statesman, he would have flown to Jakarta and announced his solidarity with the Muslims of Indonesia (which has suffered at least 40,000 dead and rising).Of course the "paltry" $15 million was based on early numbers (numbers even Cole has wrong), and it has been increased as the number of dead and the scope of the tragedy has increased. But Cole doesn't mention that. Nor does he mention that the people of the region couldn't care less where Bush is or has stayed, as long as we help them. This is all simply a wonderful opportunity to again engage in a little gratuitous criticism of the man the left loves to hate. UPDATE II: One thing that struck me in the article was how Germany's Schroder was noted to have cut short his vacation to work on the crisis. The result? 2 million Euros. He had to cut his vacation short for that? And France? Well how does a $140,000 sound? UPDATE III: Kevin at "Lean Left" isn't terribly impressed with the president's 35 million pledge: According to the latest news, the USA is going to give 35 million dollars in aid. That is more than the original 15 million dollars that Bush offered before the head of UN humanitarian aid shamed him into offering more. Neither number, in context, is terribly impressive.Shamed? Or upped the amount when it became clearer the size of the tragedy. Far be it for the left to give the president the benefit of the doubt. And of course that 35 million is simply the cash going to the area ... more, btw, than any other country in the world is sending. But Kevin must not have known that (see Kevin, that's called giving you the benefit of the doubt). Then there's the non-cash assets like the 13 US warships including an aircraft carrier capable of generating 1/2 a million gallons of fresh water daily. 6 P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol A/C and 6 C-130 transport A/C. But Kevin probably didn't know that either. No apparently Kevin must believe that all of this should have been instantly known and understood and the appropriate amount (which apparently, per Kevin is NOT 35 million) dispatched post haste. UPDATE IV: It seems the "little brown people" meme is all the rage on lefty blogs as mentioned here. Another example is to be found on the Rude Pundit's site: Maybe if someone informed the President that resorts filled with rich people were involved in the tsunami disaster, he'd be paying more attention. 'Cause, you know, c'mon, this ain't like the Bam earthquake in Iran a year ago, when it was the usual array of screaming vaguely brown people we're used to seeing and shaking our heads at.Which again brings me back to those "vaguely brown people" who died in Rwanda. We shook our heads and bit our lips, didn't we? And of course, Rude Pundit's idea of biting sarcasm is to borrow a page out of "Stereotypes R Us" pertaining to the resorts filled with rich folks. As commenter Shark said, it wouldn't matter how much we give or if Bush was on the beach in Sri Lanka helping burn bodies, it just wouldn't be enough for certain ones the left. UPDATE V: For those with a love of irony, check out Pandagon: "As a follow-up to my last post, even if our president is a callous sonofabitch, the American people are not. Head over to Amazon, where the front page is anchored by an enormous plea to donate to the Red Cross. That's money that could have been spent in their stores, and it's money they're asking you to spend in disaster relief."Well there you go, our president is a "callous sonofabitch" when it comes to giving away taxpayers money, but no one, not a single person stopped Pandagon from donating as he saw fit to the ARC. |
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