Nigerian activist says President Bush, not Obama, did the most for Africans

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by texas_ex2000, Sep 2, 2015.

  1. texas_ex2000

    texas_ex2000 2,500+ Posts

    President Bush doesn't care about Black people.

    http://www.catholic.org/news/international/africa/story.php?id=62641

    Here's a good quote:
    The PEPFAR program, BTW, is by every quantifiable measure perhaps the most successfull Federal US program ever. The ROI is ridiculous. AIDS is almost eradicated in Africa and this generation of young Africans will live free of that. 15 years ago, that would have been unthinkable. Very controversial when Bush was trying to push it, it is now one of the few programs that gets unqualified bipartisan support...except from the White House.

    Below is a great article by as bleeding heart militant liberal as you can get. He still thinks Bush is a War Criminal and is criminally negligent on climate change, but man, does he give Bush props for PEPFAR and rake Obama over the coals for his fickleness on Africa. This guy...the poster child Berkley liberal, goes as far to say that despite what he thinks are thousands of deaths Bush is responsible for in Iraq, that those numbers are minuscule compared to the tens of millions of people who have been saved through PEPFAR.

    http://www.vox.com/2015/7/8/8894019/george-w-bush-pepfar

    Some other articles on Obama/Bush Africa impact:

    "Obama's Legacy on Africa Lacks Compared to Bush"
    http://www.usnews.com/news/the-repo...bamas-legacy-on-africa-lacks-compared-to-bush

    "Shadowed by Bush, Obama seeks Africa legacy makeover"
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...t-obama-legacy-analysis-idUSKBN0G61DK20140806

    "How Obama disappointed Africa
    Despite family ties to Kenya, Barack Obama has arguably done less for the continent than his predecessors."
    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...rican-american-president-120552#ixzz3kdQDjLXG

    "Bush AIDS policies shadow Obama in Africa"
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...8e023c-e1ac-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html

     
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2015
  2. Larry T Spider

    Larry T Spider 100+ Posts

    The opinions of many liberals on bush are so far out there that they aren't even worth discussing. I didn't particularly love the guy as president but I think he genuinely cared about people. He did a lot for Africans as you pointed out, but poor people all over the world. If Obama did this stuff he would be hailed as the second coming by the same people that want to throw bush in jail. I wonder all the time what his legacy would be if he never invaded Iraq. His approval rating was high and he did a lot of things that would have been really popular if it wasn't so overshadowed by an unpopular war. Really, the group that should hate him the most is the far right because he squandered a great opportunity to cut the size of government with congress and political capital to spare.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  3. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    I would largely echo Larry's view. The idea that Bush was bad for Africa (or blacks in general) but that Obama is great for either is just stupid partisan ********. However, with respect to popularity, if Bush hadn't done the Iraq War, he'd certainly be more popular than he is. However, the financial crisis and economic mess near the end of his administration would keep him from having a great legacy.

    He left Obama a pretty big mess. Has Obama done a good job cleaning it up? No, but was it a pretty big mess? Yes.
     
  4. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    I may be oblivious to the sentiment but has the "Bush was bad for Africa" been a common theme, especially in comparison to Obama? You can say Bush sucked at a lot of things but Africa may be at the top of his successes. Whereas he left the Middle East in chaos, the work he did to support healthcare initiatives in Africa was gold.

    Has Obama had any focus on Africa other than his trip to Kenya and Nelson Mandela's life celebration? It seems Obama has unearned respect from the Africa population merely because his father is Kenyan and he's half black. Overall, Obama hasn't done much for Africa except dedicated resources to stem Ebola's spread which was as much a service to Americans as it was for Africans.
     
  5. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    It runs counter to the narrative that Bush and the GOP hate blacks because of their skin color, so his work is largely ignored. For everytime the political class mentions Bush's work in Africa, you'll hear 100 mentions that he neglected New Orleans during Katrina because he didn't care about blacks. Nobody describes exactly what he did wrong, but that doesn't matter.
     
  6. Crockett

    Crockett 5,000+ Posts

    It used to be about half the people I talked politics with were disinterested in facts. With he advent of the internet, it's gone up to about 80 percent and the non-factual 'facts" get circulated 20 times faster. Sorting out who was better on Africa requires facts, so
    seems about par for the course. Most reject info incompatible with preconceptions and accept pretty much anything, no matter how ridiculous, that hails from their end of the political spectrum.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2015
  7. majorwhiteapples

    majorwhiteapples 5,000+ Posts

    I believe that President Bush was still the Commander in Chief during Katrina. I believe the Coast Guard falls under his CoC umbrella.

    I will let you look up what the Coast Guard did during Katrina.....
     
  8. texas_ex2000

    texas_ex2000 2,500+ Posts

    +1,000 Yes

    Ironically, the internet has made us less empathetic and less open to ideas, because it allows us to easily self segregate ourselves intellectually. If you were a liberal in Texas before the internet, you couldn't just lock yourself in an online and social media echo chamber like you can today. The same goes for a conservative in California back in the day. You had to live, work, mingle, date people who had different views. Hell, politics aside, that was when people actually HAD to talk to each other in person.

    The internet also makes promoting art, ideas, political views, sports takes, etc. insanely easy. So easy that people with no credibility or vetting can put dumb, stupid, ugly, false tasteless garbage out there and somehow people will digest it. Technology makes things easier. But life isn't about finished products or rote ideas. The art in life is experiences and how those experience interact with and mold the human soul. That's why I still write with fountain pens, send letters, drive a manual, ride horses, and go fly fishing.

    The internet is great. It's the information age. I just think we need to promote the "Critical Thinking Age."
     
    • Like Like x 1

Share This Page