The politics of humanitarianism test Obama

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The world is focused on sending aid to Haiti, but compassion has a political edge and for President Obama, comparisons with the Bush administration’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster will be inevitable.

The Bush administration faced political consequences for its Katrina response, and, despite its best efforts, images of poor, mainly African American people clinging to rooftops hurt it. Black leaders called the weak response to their constituencies another example of embedded racism. The relief effort became a symbol of bureaucratic bungling that clung to an administration whose leader was painted by Democrats as a bumbler in domestic and international affairs.
So far, Republicans, particularly in Congress, have been supportive of relief efforts for Haiti, a country with a long and complicated relationship with the United States. But in two appearances, Obama has made it clear that helping the poor in Haiti is a moral burden on the United States that he intends to meet.

Continue reading Obama faces leadership test on Haiti on Top of the Ticket.

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