Israel Matzav

No good deed goes unpunished: South Africans boo Bush, cheer Obama

George W. Bush was booed in South Africa on Tuesday, while Barack Hussein Obama was wildly cheered. Given the facts, the only explanation I have for that contrast is racism. What a shock....

Former President George W. Bush was booed when he appeared on the video monitor at today’s memorial for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, according to the White House pool report, which cited local press outlets.

Meanwhile, when the images President Obama and Michelle popped up, there was a 30-second “deafening roar,” the pooler wrote.

How sad. Bush has done an far greater amount for South Africa than Obama. But Obama is much better at crafting his public image and saying the right things.

Bush personally saved the lives of millions of South Africans with his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, ensuring AIDS drugs are available to South Africa’s impoverished masses.

From a Washington Post piece describing how Bush’s achievements were haunting Obama’s June trip to South Africa:

In South Africa, the success ( of PEPFAR) was extraordinary. AIDS killed roughly 2.3 million in South Africa — once one of the worst-affected countries in the world — and orphaned about a million children there, according to the United Nations. Today, rates of infection have fallen to 30 percent, and nearly 2 million people are on antiretroviral drugs.

Meanwhile, Obama has cut PEPFAR funding and generally been his customary inattentive self. From the same Post piece:

AIDS advocates on Sunday said that Obama administration budget cuts that have slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from PEPFAR threaten to turn back years of progress in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. Last year, the administration unveiled a budget that reduces AIDS funding globally by roughly $214 million, the first time an American president has reduced the U.S. commitment to fighting the epidemic since it broke out in the 1980s during the Reagan administration.

Disgraceful... and racist. 

Labels: African, AIDS, Barack Hussein Obama, George W. Bush, racism, South Africa

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:26 PM