The U.S. Response: Too Late and Never Enough

So, President Bush didn’t react quickly enough after the tsunami disaster, and embarrassed the U.S.?

And President Bush’s reaction when it did come was “stingy,” and embarrassed the U.S.

These are today’s criticisms of Mr. Bush by the Left in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.

The Left solves each and every problem by throwing money at it. That’s the easy way, the “caring” way. Its solution to the tsunami would have been to immediately give $1 billion, or some equally foolish act designed as much for effect as for actually helping.

It really doesn’t matter what Mr. Bush does, the Left will find cause to criticize him. He’s not quick enough or he’s too quick, his actions are too little or too much, and his goals are all wrong. It’s pitiful to watch people so consumed with envy and political ambition that they can only snipe and nit-pick. That, however, is the sum and substance of the Democratic Party and liberalism in the United States.

Several other nations are jealous of or despise the United States. “Old Europe” has forgotten what the U.S. did for it in WWII. Much of the world forgets the generosity of the U.S. year after year when disasters strike. “What have you done for me lately?” is the dominant attitude, and “lately” means “today.”

Despite this, the United States leads the world in helping out in times of emergency and tragedy year after year. Because of the opposition to the war in Iraq, the United States’ popularity has dropped dramatically around the globe, as the anti-war faction both in and out of the media often tells us. Nowhere and by no one is this unpopularity reflected by hatred so much as in the Muslim world, where a generation of young Muslims has been taught to hate the U.S. from the time they can walk and talk. Now we have taken to wondering if the tremendous outpouring of generosity and direct help will have a positive effect on the perception of Americans by Muslims who are the direct beneficiary of our generosity?

“But Christians and Jews at the White House are whistlin' Dixie (ever so discreetly, of course) if they think the vast outpouring of American tsunami aid will win any hearts or change many minds,” writes Wesley Pruden in The Washington Times. “The sight of Marines dropping food and clothing from the air, or of Navy corpsmen consoling children with shots and pills,” he continues, “can make Americans feel good about themselves for doing what good Christians and observant Jews know they ought to do. Gratitude in the wake of a tidal wave, on the other hand, is as scarce as a dry shirt and pants,” he concludes.

So the only sensible thing to do is to ignore the fools and ingrates, and go on about our business of being the most generous, most courageous, most successful nation in the world.