Exploiting the tsunami for political reasons
John Podhoretz is frustrated by how politicized the tsunami situation has become. He points out that we should be focused on helping those effected by the disaster instead of exploiting it as a way to take cheap shots at George Bush and the United States.
THE political and ideological exploitation of perhaps the worst natural disaster in all our lifetimes is almost beyond belief — were it not for the fact that nothing these days is beyond belief.
Even as tears spring into the most hard-hearted person’s eyes at both the unimaginable scope of the tragedy and at the wrenching individual stories of loss, opinion leaders just can’t help themselves.
They are using this cataclysm as little more than cheap debate fodder about the nature and character of the United States, its president and its citizens.
Don’t misunderstand.
It is fine and proper to have a debate and discussion about the degree of generosity the United States could, should and must show in the wake of this literally earth-shaking event.
But at this moment, the United States is not the issue.
The foreign-aid budget of the United States is not the issue.
Our government should not be the focal point of the discussion right now.
Don’t we owe the dead, dying and injured the minimal grace not to convert their suffering into a chat-show segment — the latest left-right clash over the Bush presidency?
There’s another good editorial about this here.
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