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Originally Posted by Mr Mephisto
No, I think you misunderstand the point of the article.
It's not that aid has to be a PR exercise, but that a good opportunity to show the "positive" side of US foreign engagement was almost overlooked.
That's all. There's no real criticism inherent in the observation.
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Mr Mephisto,
Perhaps, then, do you think, as I do, that it's a credit to the Bush administration that running to the cameras for a PR opportunity was overlooked? Send help first, make sound bites later?
At first I thought that Bush was comically ineffective at maintaining his image, making him (unjustly, in my opinion) a very polarizing figure. But perhaps the more obvious answer is that, he really doesn't care about his image.
I just heard it reported on the radio that $15 million was all that could be immediately released when the disaster struck, and that the $35 million effectively emptied out the federal disaster fund. Pledging $350 million couldn't be done without Congress, which was out of session. Seems reasonable to me, even in a disaster of this magnitude -- it's not like Congress wouldn't pass a tsunami-aid bill. Otherwise, what's to prevent Bush from claiming that Iraq qualifies for relief and pledging $250 billion or whatever? Or some future president from pledging X billion to a pet cause of his?
But the end result is that this almost comically bad timing makes it look like Bush upped the ante when faced with world criticism which, if we look at the Iraq experience, couldn't be further from the truth. So my conclusion must be that abusing the tsunami to enhance our "image," so to speak, must have not been high on his list of priorities. I think it's a credit to him. And I think it's a credit to quite a number of people -- Clinton included -- to put aside partisanship for this unthinkable disaster.
I think I read somewhere that you're from Australia. I think it's stunning what Australia has done in this disaster, and full credit to Australians everywhere. However, no offense intended, but there isn't any way I'm going to let a bunch of Aussies be more generous than us. And that's why I'm sending in more money to the relief fund. I think Bush -- as well as the rest of us Americans -- would do well with the same attitude.
-- Alvin
PS Apologies if you're not from Australia -- my memory is not as good as it used to be!