Often i hear the phrase, "ew, bush. he sucks and i hate him." Come on, really?
HATE is a ridiculously strong word and as i was told a few times this summer in AFrica by my bud Jeffrey Spack-a-man, it is not needed, necessary or nice.
So, lets X nay on the H word, will you, puh-lease. Here's the thing. I don't support everything bush is about. In fact, I would honestly like to admit that I don't know everything that bush is about. I haven't studied him like i wish i had and especially as of late I don't know wahts been up. . . (been a little out of the country..AFREAKA, no big deal..)
So I would just like to say that I have a serious thing for supporting the President of a nation. Many of you may ask, really ? What happens when Obama becomes president or Hillary or back when Bill Clinton was in charge. Excellent, excellent point. I will say i have little respect for a LOT of what they stand for (or don't stand for), but I respect the office they hold. I respect America a whole lot and i've become even more patriotic living far, far away from this nation. Patriotism is an interesting term, I think. My dear Canadian friends often made fun of me and noted how defensive i would get about America. . .perhaps that could be true. But, I also enjoy being patriotic and i enjoy loving my country and i honestly don't see anything wrong with that. Well, i'm getting on a tangent here so back to why I originally decided to post. . . BUSH.
Maybe i don't know everything, and maybe I don't agree with the war in Iraq 1,000%, but i do know that Bush has gained points in my book because of what he has done for my favorite AFRICA. (remember there is no judgment on my blog, please.) WHAT? You may ask...NO WAY, has bush done anything for another nation except ruin the middle east!!! Well, my naive friends...read on, read on..
This article by Bob Geldof was in TIME magazine and it made me happy, plain and simple. SOooo, please read it b/c despite the many negative things said about our President I think it's only fair for you to understand what he has done or tried to do at least for africa because I know that many people assume that since he's republican and big business oriented that he probably doesn't care about other nations or other people and only about what is good for America..(which, hello, he is the president of america so it makes sense that he puts america first...) but anways, i think it's an interesting read and something new for most people. It was for me.
well, in conclusion, i too never thought i'd be writing anything about politics in my saweeet blog.
But alas, I do believe this article is needed , necessary, and nice .
check. it. out.
WELL. in an effort to find the link to this article....it's taking too much time and it keeps showing me a different article, though similar i guess. SO, is it worth my time to type it all out? Yeahhh, i spose it is b/c i just wrote a whole blog about it. So, here i goes.
"On assignment for TIME, musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof reports on the presidential trip to Africa--and why the continent's rebirth is the Bush Adminstration's greatest achievement."
THE HEALER
by Bob Geldorf
When George w bush arrived in Rwanda, a tiny country the size of Maryland, the streets assume a festive air. Rwanda is one of Africa’s success stories an emerging nation led by pro-western, pro-business president. But in this little green jewel of a place, bush also saw the scars that remain from the genocidal bout of madness that gripped these quiet, private rural people in 1994. The massacre of 800,000 people perhaps shocked Rwandans into a desperate modernity but has left the country with a terrible burden of nation-building. The president paused here on his whistle-stop tour of Africa to show that he and America have tried to share that burden.
For 25 years, I have sought to tell people--presidents, prime ministers, princes, popes and pop stars--about this continent. There have been occasional successes and many years of frustration and failure. This time, the president invited me to join him on part of this trip, though the necessary diplomatese of the state visit--the speeding motorcade, the Potemkin hospital, the showcase engagement--allowed only a partial glimpse of this enormous place.
In truth, what bush does or thinks or plans has in political terms become almost meaningless. Such is the inexorable and remorseless lot of the soon to be redundant Chief Executive. The curtain is already almost down. All that remains is for the actor to sift his papers, safeguard his reputation and nurture his legacy, whatever that turns out to be or however it is spun.
Bush has rocked America's core idea of itself and most of the world's idea of America. He may not be forgiven, and he certainly won't be forgotten for this. If it is not America the good, America the fair, America the Just, then it is nothing. It may come as a surprise to some Americans that many other people feel exactly the same about their own countries. There is, however, one crucial difference. Most of those, allies or foes, also extend that view to America. Perhaps because of this, there is today a great sense of world hurt, of aspirational betrayal.
And yet while American people looked away from their unrecognizable selves, America was doing something that rightfully belongs to its own deathless ideal of the GOOD, the FAIR and the JUST. It is happening quietly and out of sight.
It is what America was born to do and why people become politicians. It is very American in that it is very practical and hugely idealistic. It was unexpected of the man but expected of the nation. It is the unannounced, unheralded good legacy of this Administration.
The great unacknowledged story of America in Africa didn't immediately originate with this President (john Kerry and bill Frist initiated legislation in 2002 to combat the continent's AIDS epidemic.) But it was accelerated hugely by him, increased by him, argued for by him and monitored by him. It has saved millions upon millions of lives and healed broken bodies; more than 1.5 Africans are on lifesaving antiretrovirals. It has put millions of the poorest of the earth--an additional 29 million African children--into schools. It has fed, clothed and watered the hurt and ill. It has not finished, and it is still not enough, but it is without any shadow of a doubt what America is supposed to do, which is why U.S. citizens should know of it. It harks back to Jefferson but is hugely important to 21st century politics. Unusually, it is being done deftly, slowly and gently with due respect to the dignity of those it seeks to help. There are no votes in helping the poor of Africa, but Bush did it anyway.
WHY did Bush travel here this week? Perhaps simply to say goodbye as President. They like him here. In Rwanda, prostitutes come to wave him on for saving them and their children's lives. Tanzanian politicians have show how U.S. investment has been spurred by Bush's Millennium Challenge Legislation. Under their magnificent, Harvard-educated, female president, the Liberians thank Bush for the huge overt support that has stabilized her country. Increasingly effective aid and trade backing good governance have helped improve health and provide education, skills and jobs. The Africans Bush met have described how this is the correct response to the Chinese mercantilism overwhelming the continent. Beninese cotton farmers are urging him to stand fast on him opposition to the pork-belly politics of the farm bill that is winding it’s disgraceful way through congress, while Ghanaian businessmen push him to skew the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks in favor of the poor.
Africa is the only continent yet to be built. It will be here that some of the great politics of our century will play themselves out. It’s a continent of 900 million potential producers and consumers. There are more languages and cultural diversity in Africa than almost anywhere else. Many of the great rivers and resources on the planet are here.
The Chinese and Indians are massive investors in Africa, and so must the WEST be. The U.S. gets 19% of its oil imports from the continent, and the figure is rising; in China, it's 30% and rising. Europe must look more to Africa to avoid Russian oil. Europe is a mere 8 miles north of this vast continent, with all the tensions over security and immigration that implies.
But America has begun well. Americans should feel good about this--and they would, if anyone would tell them about it. On Air Force One, the president and I discussed this Luminous Continent, drenched in light and hoped, grace and spirit. A continent growing economically at more than 5% per annum, with 23 or so democratic countries south of the Sahara. The continent that America must befriend, if only out of self-interest. By helping here, you pledge to the world and its people that you aren't messing around. You mean what it says in the Constitution.
Perhaps the President can return as a free man and with his family--all of whom seem to have fallen in love with this beautiful place--to see up close the impact of his unsung efforts; what he's done and what America is doing and all that remains unfinished. "Whoever is President next must understand that Africa is our nations' interest," he told me as we left Rwanda for the Ghanaian capital of Accra. We hear all the presidential candidates promise to build in a post partisan manner of the legacy of Bush in Africa. But will they? We should ask them whether they truly understand the vital strategic and developmental necessity of U.S. policy in Africa. It is a question as unasked by political journalist as this Africa tale is unsung. A fresh world is being shaped here. It is vital that it is understood by America. I look forward to seeing exactly what the next President will do to continue this great, untold and secret American story. The story of the African Bush. The quiet triumph of American foreign policy.
(Sidenote: Geldof, as you can imagine, is an opponent of the Bush Administration’s War in Iraq. At the same time, Geldof is a strong proponent of African aid, something the Bush Administration is strong on as well (though that fact rarely gets headlines). This dichotomy comes into play in Geldof’s article in a really natural way, where he basically says Bush is a gracious host and good guy, it’s a shame that all the good things his administration does gets overshadowed by Iraq...which is almost understandable, i suppose--from some random review)
Thank you come again.
-Vickitoria
post script:
here's the article that kept coming up..it's similar, but different. enjoy
http://http//www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717934,00.html
HATE is a ridiculously strong word and as i was told a few times this summer in AFrica by my bud Jeffrey Spack-a-man, it is not needed, necessary or nice.
So, lets X nay on the H word, will you, puh-lease. Here's the thing. I don't support everything bush is about. In fact, I would honestly like to admit that I don't know everything that bush is about. I haven't studied him like i wish i had and especially as of late I don't know wahts been up. . . (been a little out of the country..AFREAKA, no big deal..)
So I would just like to say that I have a serious thing for supporting the President of a nation. Many of you may ask, really ? What happens when Obama becomes president or Hillary or back when Bill Clinton was in charge. Excellent, excellent point. I will say i have little respect for a LOT of what they stand for (or don't stand for), but I respect the office they hold. I respect America a whole lot and i've become even more patriotic living far, far away from this nation. Patriotism is an interesting term, I think. My dear Canadian friends often made fun of me and noted how defensive i would get about America. . .perhaps that could be true. But, I also enjoy being patriotic and i enjoy loving my country and i honestly don't see anything wrong with that. Well, i'm getting on a tangent here so back to why I originally decided to post. . . BUSH.
Maybe i don't know everything, and maybe I don't agree with the war in Iraq 1,000%, but i do know that Bush has gained points in my book because of what he has done for my favorite AFRICA. (remember there is no judgment on my blog, please.) WHAT? You may ask...NO WAY, has bush done anything for another nation except ruin the middle east!!! Well, my naive friends...read on, read on..
This article by Bob Geldof was in TIME magazine and it made me happy, plain and simple. SOooo, please read it b/c despite the many negative things said about our President I think it's only fair for you to understand what he has done or tried to do at least for africa because I know that many people assume that since he's republican and big business oriented that he probably doesn't care about other nations or other people and only about what is good for America..(which, hello, he is the president of america so it makes sense that he puts america first...) but anways, i think it's an interesting read and something new for most people. It was for me.
well, in conclusion, i too never thought i'd be writing anything about politics in my saweeet blog.
But alas, I do believe this article is needed , necessary, and nice .
check. it. out.
WELL. in an effort to find the link to this article....it's taking too much time and it keeps showing me a different article, though similar i guess. SO, is it worth my time to type it all out? Yeahhh, i spose it is b/c i just wrote a whole blog about it. So, here i goes.
"On assignment for TIME, musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof reports on the presidential trip to Africa--and why the continent's rebirth is the Bush Adminstration's greatest achievement."
THE HEALER
by Bob Geldorf
When George w bush arrived in Rwanda, a tiny country the size of Maryland, the streets assume a festive air. Rwanda is one of Africa’s success stories an emerging nation led by pro-western, pro-business president. But in this little green jewel of a place, bush also saw the scars that remain from the genocidal bout of madness that gripped these quiet, private rural people in 1994. The massacre of 800,000 people perhaps shocked Rwandans into a desperate modernity but has left the country with a terrible burden of nation-building. The president paused here on his whistle-stop tour of Africa to show that he and America have tried to share that burden.
For 25 years, I have sought to tell people--presidents, prime ministers, princes, popes and pop stars--about this continent. There have been occasional successes and many years of frustration and failure. This time, the president invited me to join him on part of this trip, though the necessary diplomatese of the state visit--the speeding motorcade, the Potemkin hospital, the showcase engagement--allowed only a partial glimpse of this enormous place.
In truth, what bush does or thinks or plans has in political terms become almost meaningless. Such is the inexorable and remorseless lot of the soon to be redundant Chief Executive. The curtain is already almost down. All that remains is for the actor to sift his papers, safeguard his reputation and nurture his legacy, whatever that turns out to be or however it is spun.
Bush has rocked America's core idea of itself and most of the world's idea of America. He may not be forgiven, and he certainly won't be forgotten for this. If it is not America the good, America the fair, America the Just, then it is nothing. It may come as a surprise to some Americans that many other people feel exactly the same about their own countries. There is, however, one crucial difference. Most of those, allies or foes, also extend that view to America. Perhaps because of this, there is today a great sense of world hurt, of aspirational betrayal.
And yet while American people looked away from their unrecognizable selves, America was doing something that rightfully belongs to its own deathless ideal of the GOOD, the FAIR and the JUST. It is happening quietly and out of sight.
It is what America was born to do and why people become politicians. It is very American in that it is very practical and hugely idealistic. It was unexpected of the man but expected of the nation. It is the unannounced, unheralded good legacy of this Administration.
The great unacknowledged story of America in Africa didn't immediately originate with this President (john Kerry and bill Frist initiated legislation in 2002 to combat the continent's AIDS epidemic.) But it was accelerated hugely by him, increased by him, argued for by him and monitored by him. It has saved millions upon millions of lives and healed broken bodies; more than 1.5 Africans are on lifesaving antiretrovirals. It has put millions of the poorest of the earth--an additional 29 million African children--into schools. It has fed, clothed and watered the hurt and ill. It has not finished, and it is still not enough, but it is without any shadow of a doubt what America is supposed to do, which is why U.S. citizens should know of it. It harks back to Jefferson but is hugely important to 21st century politics. Unusually, it is being done deftly, slowly and gently with due respect to the dignity of those it seeks to help. There are no votes in helping the poor of Africa, but Bush did it anyway.
WHY did Bush travel here this week? Perhaps simply to say goodbye as President. They like him here. In Rwanda, prostitutes come to wave him on for saving them and their children's lives. Tanzanian politicians have show how U.S. investment has been spurred by Bush's Millennium Challenge Legislation. Under their magnificent, Harvard-educated, female president, the Liberians thank Bush for the huge overt support that has stabilized her country. Increasingly effective aid and trade backing good governance have helped improve health and provide education, skills and jobs. The Africans Bush met have described how this is the correct response to the Chinese mercantilism overwhelming the continent. Beninese cotton farmers are urging him to stand fast on him opposition to the pork-belly politics of the farm bill that is winding it’s disgraceful way through congress, while Ghanaian businessmen push him to skew the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks in favor of the poor.
Africa is the only continent yet to be built. It will be here that some of the great politics of our century will play themselves out. It’s a continent of 900 million potential producers and consumers. There are more languages and cultural diversity in Africa than almost anywhere else. Many of the great rivers and resources on the planet are here.
The Chinese and Indians are massive investors in Africa, and so must the WEST be. The U.S. gets 19% of its oil imports from the continent, and the figure is rising; in China, it's 30% and rising. Europe must look more to Africa to avoid Russian oil. Europe is a mere 8 miles north of this vast continent, with all the tensions over security and immigration that implies.
But America has begun well. Americans should feel good about this--and they would, if anyone would tell them about it. On Air Force One, the president and I discussed this Luminous Continent, drenched in light and hoped, grace and spirit. A continent growing economically at more than 5% per annum, with 23 or so democratic countries south of the Sahara. The continent that America must befriend, if only out of self-interest. By helping here, you pledge to the world and its people that you aren't messing around. You mean what it says in the Constitution.
Perhaps the President can return as a free man and with his family--all of whom seem to have fallen in love with this beautiful place--to see up close the impact of his unsung efforts; what he's done and what America is doing and all that remains unfinished. "Whoever is President next must understand that Africa is our nations' interest," he told me as we left Rwanda for the Ghanaian capital of Accra. We hear all the presidential candidates promise to build in a post partisan manner of the legacy of Bush in Africa. But will they? We should ask them whether they truly understand the vital strategic and developmental necessity of U.S. policy in Africa. It is a question as unasked by political journalist as this Africa tale is unsung. A fresh world is being shaped here. It is vital that it is understood by America. I look forward to seeing exactly what the next President will do to continue this great, untold and secret American story. The story of the African Bush. The quiet triumph of American foreign policy.
(Sidenote: Geldof, as you can imagine, is an opponent of the Bush Administration’s War in Iraq. At the same time, Geldof is a strong proponent of African aid, something the Bush Administration is strong on as well (though that fact rarely gets headlines). This dichotomy comes into play in Geldof’s article in a really natural way, where he basically says Bush is a gracious host and good guy, it’s a shame that all the good things his administration does gets overshadowed by Iraq...which is almost understandable, i suppose--from some random review)
Thank you come again.
-Vickitoria
post script:
here's the article that kept coming up..it's similar, but different. enjoy
http://http//www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717934,00.html
