Bush in Africa
The Council on Foreign Relations has a useful primer on American policies toward the five countries President Bush is visiting this week.
I am going to make a controversial assertion: Although President Bush has, by just about any measure, been a pretty bad president, he ranks among the upper echelons in terms of policy toward Africa. Now this is not much of an accomplishment, to be sure. American policy toward Africa has ranged from the loathsome to the negligent to the indifferent. And I’m not certain that the United States has ever had an administration with an even passably good foreign policy toward the continent. So Bush is among the best of a bad bunch, despite essentially countenancing genocide in Darfur, the lack of delivery on some grand promises, and some questions about intent with regard to AFRICOM. Still, both President Cinton and President Bush at least had Africa within the periphery of their vision, which is a far cry from the noxious “Constructive Engagement” that preceded them.
All this tells me is that Americans must demand more when it comes to United States policy toward Africa. If Bush is among the best we’ve had, we have a pretty shameful record.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Oh and before any Republican starts out with “How wonderful it is that president Bush gave billions to fight AIDS in Africa, let us remember that if China or Japan or others didn’t lend us the billions, there wouldn’t be any billions to donate to Africa. Ergo China, Japan et al, are to be thanked for the billions to Africa. And we’ll have the next one hundred years to have to pay those folks back for being so kind to George. Thanks to Busheney.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
Isn’t Susan Rice one of Obama’s major foreign policy advisors? I guess that it all depends whether Clinton’s Africa policy was directed more from the Oval Office or the State Department, but the implication from this post, worryingly, is that Obama’s Africa policy could be worse than Bush’s…
February 28th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Vigilante –
The American budget does not work the way that you imply. Don’t let partisanship blind your critical compass.
GoodLib –
I’m not all that worried about Rice on Obama’s team. Obviosuly Clinton’s big failing was in Rwands, and State did not help matters, but its hands were also tied as well. That situation required strong leadership, and we failed that test. But just as Bush won’t be judged solely on darfur, Clinton won’t be judges solely on rwanda, even if both should play a larger role in any assessments we make.
Thanks for reading –
dc