Obama Needs to get his priorities straight
First off, let me say that I am not in general a fan of Governments handing out money in order to "create jobs" or bailout companies that have failed. I think the last two years have seen more money wasted than any of the excess military spending of the Cold War. I would rather put a $1 billion bomber in the sky than make sure Golden Ballsachs gets its bonuses.
But aid to developing countries, specifically aid directed at solving illness and medical hardship rather than development spending, should be one of the highest US priorities. Argue all you will about giving money to Africa - it usually does nothing, often does harm - but money spent on human illness is another matter entirely. This, along with a number of other reasons, is why President Bush was adored in Sub-Saharan Africa, a fact which was rarely mentioned by any of the US media. He is still hugely looked up to - white, bible-thumping Texan and all.
President Obama, who as the first black President not to mention of Kenyan descent (and it seems at least somewhat likely that he was actually born in Kenya - the Kenyan Parliament and many of their newspapers at least like to think of it that way), is squandering what one would have thought would be a period of increased and improving relations between Africa and the US.
Specifically, he is cutting back on the US commitment to counter the AIDS epidemic. This really pisses me off. It is a matter of a few billion over the next few years, and to be perfectly honest this should be well above handouts to middle-class America. This is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of basic humanitarian principles. When a few billion could save thousands of lives, and improves life for thousands more, versus building a new on-ramp in Ohio or making sure AIG survives in its current form, I would vote for the thousands of lives. Yes, they are not American. No, they did not "pay in" to the system. Yes, development money etc should really be lead by the African national governments in conjunction with corporations. But there is a role for the US government here to prevent a humanitarian crises which, to a large degree, falls outside of the auspices of the marketplace. And Obama is reneging on that commitment.
But aid to developing countries, specifically aid directed at solving illness and medical hardship rather than development spending, should be one of the highest US priorities. Argue all you will about giving money to Africa - it usually does nothing, often does harm - but money spent on human illness is another matter entirely. This, along with a number of other reasons, is why President Bush was adored in Sub-Saharan Africa, a fact which was rarely mentioned by any of the US media. He is still hugely looked up to - white, bible-thumping Texan and all.
President Obama, who as the first black President not to mention of Kenyan descent (and it seems at least somewhat likely that he was actually born in Kenya - the Kenyan Parliament and many of their newspapers at least like to think of it that way), is squandering what one would have thought would be a period of increased and improving relations between Africa and the US.
Specifically, he is cutting back on the US commitment to counter the AIDS epidemic. This really pisses me off. It is a matter of a few billion over the next few years, and to be perfectly honest this should be well above handouts to middle-class America. This is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of basic humanitarian principles. When a few billion could save thousands of lives, and improves life for thousands more, versus building a new on-ramp in Ohio or making sure AIG survives in its current form, I would vote for the thousands of lives. Yes, they are not American. No, they did not "pay in" to the system. Yes, development money etc should really be lead by the African national governments in conjunction with corporations. But there is a role for the US government here to prevent a humanitarian crises which, to a large degree, falls outside of the auspices of the marketplace. And Obama is reneging on that commitment.
Comments
Post a Comment