Pernicious
10-15-2014, 02:37 PM
http://www.debatepolicy.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6624&stc=1
Nearly 60 percent of Americans want the government to shut down flights to the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, sources of the Ebola virus. Why isn’t the White House playing ball? One theory: because once again, President Barack Obama is serving his legacy at the expense of the country.
Six years ago he put his legacy-building healthcare legislation ahead of the need to create jobs and reboot our fragile economy. Today, his ambition to be a hero to Africa is undermining common sense approaches to protecting Americans from the Ebola virus.
At issue is the enormous popularity of George W. Bush in Africa, a love affair that highlights how little, by comparison, Mr. Obama has done for that continent. As The New York Times reported in 2013, Bush “is seen as a lifesaver who as president helped arrest a deadly epidemic [AIDS] and promoted development of impoverished lands.” As The Times noted, “During a final trip as president in early 2008, Mr. Bush was warmly greeted by huge crowds of the sort he never saw at home anymore.”
That’s a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, who makes little secret of his dislike for his predecessor and who, as our nation’s first black president, was expected to make great contributions to Africa. It must gall him that U.S. approval ratings in numerous important African countries have tumbled under his leadership.
According to Gallup, U.S. approval ratings in sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 85 percent in 2009; by 2013 they had plummeted to 64 percent. They explained the likely source of the drop: “Given Obama's Kenyan heritage, many Africans likely expected Obama to pay more attention to Africa than they perceive he has.” In Kenya, the birthplace of the president’s father, approval of the U.S. leadership collapsed from 93 percent in 2009 to 68 percent by 2013.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-risking-u-ebola-outbreak-091500185.html
Nearly 60 percent of Americans want the government to shut down flights to the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, sources of the Ebola virus. Why isn’t the White House playing ball? One theory: because once again, President Barack Obama is serving his legacy at the expense of the country.
Six years ago he put his legacy-building healthcare legislation ahead of the need to create jobs and reboot our fragile economy. Today, his ambition to be a hero to Africa is undermining common sense approaches to protecting Americans from the Ebola virus.
At issue is the enormous popularity of George W. Bush in Africa, a love affair that highlights how little, by comparison, Mr. Obama has done for that continent. As The New York Times reported in 2013, Bush “is seen as a lifesaver who as president helped arrest a deadly epidemic [AIDS] and promoted development of impoverished lands.” As The Times noted, “During a final trip as president in early 2008, Mr. Bush was warmly greeted by huge crowds of the sort he never saw at home anymore.”
That’s a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, who makes little secret of his dislike for his predecessor and who, as our nation’s first black president, was expected to make great contributions to Africa. It must gall him that U.S. approval ratings in numerous important African countries have tumbled under his leadership.
According to Gallup, U.S. approval ratings in sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 85 percent in 2009; by 2013 they had plummeted to 64 percent. They explained the likely source of the drop: “Given Obama's Kenyan heritage, many Africans likely expected Obama to pay more attention to Africa than they perceive he has.” In Kenya, the birthplace of the president’s father, approval of the U.S. leadership collapsed from 93 percent in 2009 to 68 percent by 2013.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-risking-u-ebola-outbreak-091500185.html