A Drop in the Bucket

It boggles the mind, Bush, that you have the gall to stand there solemnly in front of the world and announce, with apparent satisfaction, that America is prepared to commit $674 million to fight hunger in Africa—a sum, as I understand it, that is only a fraction of the grandiose $15 billion Millennium Challenge Account that you announced to great fanfare back in 2002, but which has never been funded. Not one dime.

And now you come up with your $674 million for emergency relief. Your pal Blair was looking for relief and development money, to address the immediate issues of starvation, disease, and the effects of military conflict. You say, emergency relief only, and only to countries that can demonstrate a commitment to democracy. Your pal Blair was looking for a pledge of the 0.7% of gross domestic product proposed by the United Nations—an amount the United Kingdom and other developed countries have already pledged to meet by 2112. You say no. You say—I think I caught your words pretty much as you spoke them, Bush—that this amount “does not fit in with America’s budgetary plans.”

Is this the same America, that has spent $175 billion and counting bringing “democracy” to Iraq? That’s b… b… b… billion. And we can afford only $674 million for that whole starving, desperate, diseased, war-ridden continent? Is this the same America that can afford, at the same time, to lavish the super rich with billions of dollars’ worth of tax cuts? And we have the face to tell the other wealthy nations of the world that the sacrifice they’re prepared to make does not fit in with our budgetary plans?

And in the same breath, you profess that Africa "is a central commitment of my presidency?" How can you stand there, Bush, and utter such mockeries with a straight face? My suggestion: make some changes in our budgetary plans—and start by bringing back some reason, fairness, and plain common sense to the current wildly unaffordable tax provisions that favor only the very wealthiest of citizens in this wealthiest of countries.

As one development expert put it, in a massive understatement: "The US is not pulling its weight right now." When you do things like this, Bush, you end up looking like the man who orders a $200 dinner and leaves a 75 cent tip.