Bush's Rarely Talked about Success in Africa

One thing that I will never forgive my country for is the demonization of George W. Bush. I'll admit that he has made mistakes, but I believe that many, if not all of those mistakes stem from the fact that he thinks from the heart more often than he thinks from the head. Here's an excerpt from an important article in the Boston Globe, "Bush's enduring legacy in Africa"

The Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years, the largest increase since the Truman administration, and used it to encourage poor countries to undertake political and economic reform. Total US government development aid to Africa alone has quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008, and is scheduled to go to $8.7 billion in 2010, principally for education (primary school enrollment in Africa is up 36 percent since 1999), healthcare, building civil society, and protecting fragile environments.

These are not the kind of numbers that lend themselves well to the traditions of spend-less conservatism. Bush has gotten into trouble for keeping taxes low while increasing spending. That's another problem that comes from his head-heart conundrum. He really believes that lower taxes help lower-class folks, and but also doesn't want to hurt Africans by neglecting them.

I think history will prove Bush to be a great humanitarian and I believe that after his time is up in office he will shy away from the spotlight and continue to help Africa. He won't care if the media mentions his efforts, because he's never cared what they thought about him while he's in office. If he was going to let public opinion affect his decisions, this country would be dramatically different.