Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Another One-Car Funeral Screwed Up
Bush's decision to devote $15 million to tsunami relief, later raised to $35 million, is a neat little lesson in what's important to his administration. As Rob at AMERICAblog pointed out this morning, that's what Bush spends on his Iraq adventure in five hours. As for why he's staying on vacation in Crawford, well, to run back to Washington and look all concerned and compassionate would be too much like something Bill Clinton would do. And, as Juan Cole and others have observed, by dawdling on a response and then coming up with one so small, Bush has actually missed an opportunity to show Muslims in the region that the United States really doesn't hate them and their religion.
It's one thing to screw up the hard stuff. War and peace, global economics--even smart people can have trouble getting a complete handle on them. But the proper response to the Asian tsunami from the world's wealthiest nation isn't an issue that's difficult or nuanced. Doing the right thing--even if some of it is largely symbolic--should be easy. But they blew it.
It's another proud day to be an American. Only 1482 more days left to be so proud.
Bush's decision to devote $15 million to tsunami relief, later raised to $35 million, is a neat little lesson in what's important to his administration. As Rob at AMERICAblog pointed out this morning, that's what Bush spends on his Iraq adventure in five hours. As for why he's staying on vacation in Crawford, well, to run back to Washington and look all concerned and compassionate would be too much like something Bill Clinton would do. And, as Juan Cole and others have observed, by dawdling on a response and then coming up with one so small, Bush has actually missed an opportunity to show Muslims in the region that the United States really doesn't hate them and their religion.
It's one thing to screw up the hard stuff. War and peace, global economics--even smart people can have trouble getting a complete handle on them. But the proper response to the Asian tsunami from the world's wealthiest nation isn't an issue that's difficult or nuanced. Doing the right thing--even if some of it is largely symbolic--should be easy. But they blew it.
It's another proud day to be an American. Only 1482 more days left to be so proud.
