Haiti and 2012

Haiti is one of those countries we neither hear of nor care about unless something is going dramatically wrong there (that isn’t a personal slam at Haiti, it’s how Americans view most of the world most of the time), and something has gone dramatically wrong there.

I don’t need to do a recap of the Haitian earthquake here, you’ve all seen the images and read the stories, but I do want to focus on the quick response and the aid that Obama gave.

It is truly staggering to me that aid is such a controversial topic in this country.  It seems like it should be clear from all sides that aid is a good idea.  If it is done properly (and I will admit that sometimes, it is absolutely not, no doubt), it can help contribute to the stability of countries that otherwise could be a real national security risk.  And Haiti is one of them, simply because of the sheer amount of illegal immigrants that were already pouring into our country before the quake.

But of course there are the complete fools who I refer to occasionally in this blog – typically, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh – who are decrying Obama’s quick response as pandering to the masses and trying to consolidate power among the African-Americans who elected him.

And here’s the thing:  it’s undoubtedly in some part true.  Obama knew that there had to be a quick response to any natural disaster after Hurricane Katrina’s ridiculous botched response.  Pretty much everything a first-term president does is for political reasons.  But you know that if Bush did the same thing, they’d be talking about what a good guy he is, a hero, really.  When in reality, it would be the same thing:  partially motivated out of politics, partially motivated out of philanthropy.

Regardless, this will likely be a move that Obama will be able to count as a win in the Foreign Policy problems that are constantly facing his administration.  A welcome distraction from Afghanistan.  But in the end?  Nah, it probably won’t do much.