Say Anything Blog

Speaking of playing the blame game (via Spoons)"

Washington Post - The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. . . .

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.

After a day of repeated inquiries from reporters about his public absence, Bush late yesterday afternoon announced plans to hold a National Security Council meeting by teleconference to discuss several issues, including the tsunami, followed by a short public statement.

Bush's deepened public involvement puts him more in line with other world figures. In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin because of the Indian Ocean crisis, which began with a gigantic underwater earthquake. In Britain, the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster was not Bush but former president Bill Clinton, who in an interview with the BBC said the suffering was like something in a "horror movie," and urged a coordinated international response.

After the earthquake American agencies did the best they could to warn the SE Asia region of the coming disaster despite an absence of a warning system in that region (and a desire to use it, apparently). Now that the disaster has occurred America has pledged tens of millions of dollars in relief with the promise of more funding to be forthcoming. On top of that, Americans have privately donated untold millions to the cause.

Other than those things"what else can America or its leaders do? Bush was able to express his sorrow and get the ball rolling with foreign aid while remaining on vacation at his ranch. Claiming that he hasn't shown enough empathy because he didn't return to the White House to do these things is a crass display of the media's willingness to use any issue, regardless of how petty or small, to criticize the President.