Soccer Dad

The fine art of flying (with the president)

Bob Geldof has certainly had an interesting career. He's been a rock singer, an activist and now he's a magazine writer. His assignment: to write about President Bush on the President's African trip. (Apparently he remains healthy, unlike some others in the press corps.)

Geldof's portrait of the President is respectful but wary. Clearly he agrees with what the President's done for Africa even while he vehemently disagrees with the war in Iraq. I was somewhat taken aback by some of Geldof's comments to the President. In another time such "cheek" would be punishable by imprisonment if not worse. Still the President comes off as gracious and well meaning. Geldof, I don't think comes off as well. (See Don Surber.)

Why is Geldof traveling with the President? Because he wants to raise awareness of the positive change President Bush has brought to the African continent. It's something that he's agitated for, for years. He thinks, (correctly) that the President doesn't promote his own accomplishments in this area effectively.

It is a very good article but I think it misses one thing, though both men touch on the topic. Geldof chides the President for once dismissing the importance of Africa. The President successfully and imprssively deflects the criticism. Still, eight years ago President Bush did argue against nation building. Now he's actively involved in it in Iraq and even his efforts in Africa have strengthened central governments. Why is it important now?

The answer, of course, is 9/11. President Bush doesn't approve of nation building for the sake of nation building. But he saw what happens when there's no effective government. It allows organizations like al-Qaeda to form and metastasize.

While it's true that Geldof's view of the Iraq war is typical Hollywood, there was a fascinating exchange that shows he isn't totally consumed by such pretensions.

You forget that Bush has an M.B.A. He thinks like a businessman in terms of the bottom line. Results. Profit and loss. There is an empiricism to a lot of his furthest-reaching policies on Africa. Correctly, he's big on trade. "A 1% increase in trade from Africa," he says, "will mean more money than all the aid put together annually." He's proud that he twice reauthorized the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a modestly revolutionary Clinton Administration initiative that enabled previously heavily taxed exports to enter the U.S. tax-free. Even though oil still accounts for the vast amount of African exports to the U.S., the beneficial impact of AGOA on such places as the tiny country of Lesotho, and its growing textile industry, has been startling.

Geldof comes off as a lot more serious than a typical celebrity activist. But I think that the President comes off even better.

(via memeorandum)

bob geldof, president bush.