By Dipo Ola

18th July, 2003

It would be nice to hear the usual Bush-haters and Republican-haters, at least call a spade a spade. In this case, acknowledging the positive, proactive attitude that President George Bush has in recent times shown towards the African continent, when he really does not need to, is something that would be welcome. When I say: ‘does not need to’, I mean just that. Mr. Bush does not have any significant political pressure on him to pay more attention to Africa, much less initiate a $15 billion plan to fight AIDS on the continent. His core conservative constituency, rather than pressure him to do any of those things, would probably prefer it if he used all that money on local American issues or on matters of National defence or security. The fact that millions are dying of AIDS in Africa, and are going to keep dying there without significant help, is of no critical consequence to the average American, except for those who subscribe to strong Christian values of helping the needy, A
ND those who harbor liberal, internationalist or pro-Africa values. The latter group is as said, LIBERAL, and so they have no impact on Mr. Bush’s political agenda. They will not vote for him, whether he gives $0 to Africa, or he gives $200 billion to Africa, and he knows that. Consequently, in strict legal analysis, he has no need to try to impress them by helping out the AIDS victims in Africa. The former group I mentioned, are Christian, but they do not attach a very high priority to giving aid to Africa, because they harbour very strong self-responsibility values, and feel that Africans should look after themselves, rather than constantly look for help. A large portion of this former group also feels that AIDS for the most part is a consequence of personal behavior, and so should largely be addressed by changing that personal behavior, instead of pumping money to help victims.

The point of this discourse is not to argue on the merits of either perspective, but to illustrate why those who say Mr. Bush is merely acting politically and hoping for new votes from the black populace, are simply wrong. Clearly, there might be a hope in his mind for political gain, but that cannot be the overriding or dominant factor in his Africa initiative, because the cold, brilliant political analysts surrounding him would have fully apprised him of the unlikelihood that he would gain much political capital from his actions. On the contrary, Mr. Bush by trying to assist the African continent, AND assist them in assisting themselves is potentially alienating the hardcore conservatives who believe that with the problems with the American economy and all the American defence issues, he should NOT be spending money on issues like AIDS in Africa, which frankly do not rate high on the list of top Republican issues. So the question is: why is Mr. Bush doing this? Could it simpl
y be that he is a man of Christian values, conviction and compassion, who is not willing to sit back and do nothing when he feels that he could help his fellow man? Could it simply be that he is a man who is determined to do the right thing, whether it suits him politically or not? That would seem to be the case, whether we are talking about an issue that pleases the average liberal, like giving assistance to Africa, OR whether we are talking about an issue like Mr. Bush’s tax cuts or his environmental record, which displeases the average liberal. Just as he is consistently able to act with conviction, whether politically beneficial or not, we should be able to give him credit where it is due, whether he is a republican or not.

The issue of Mr. Bush’s sudden, pronounced interest and involvement in Liberia is another one that follows the same reasoning pattern as the above. Mr. Bush has ABSOLUTELY nothing to gain from getting involved in Liberia, but he does have everything to lose, both from irate conservatives who feel that he is spreading the military too thin on matters that have no practical relevance to American security, and from his general detractors who will categorize him as a international meddler or megalomaniac. I, as an African, personally feel that Liberians themselves, and other African leaders/countries (like Nigeria) should have taken responsibility for stabilizing the situation, rather than Mr. Bush, but seeing as we have once again let our affairs fall into chaos, I cannot but feel appreciative that Mr. Bush is once again taking the initiative in a matter that has no discernible political benefits for him.

On a final note, the African/Black republican-bashers should once again note that the republican-controlled house of representatives is once again the only discernible institution out there taking a serious interest in the issue of slavery in Sudan. Specifically, they have recently passed a resolution calling on the U.S government to take a stand against it, and to take sanctions against the government of Sudan until it stops that abominable practice. In this, they are backed and inspired mainly by the grassroots religious conservatives like Pat Robertson who has for many years, not only called attention to the slavery of black Africans in Sudan, but done everything he and his political allies can, to bring it to the forefront of political discourse. I might add that their efforts have been in the past thwarted by previous Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle (Democrat) who simply did not consider the issue of slavery in Sudan to be a priority.

Right from arriving in office, Mr. Bush has demonstrated his inclusive attitude by appointing the first black secretary of state AND the first black female National Security Adviser (the first black national security adviser, Colin Powell, was also appointed by a Republican President, Ronald Reagan). Now he is spending more money on AIDS in Africa, than ANY PRESIDENT anywhere has ever done. In addition he has committed himself, at his own political peril to stabilizing the situation in Liberia. But I guess in a world where words speak louder than actions, none of these actions count. After all, all republicans are racist and anti-black progress. It makes sense.

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