‘Haskell’ humanitarian can fly, but not hide: Tanzanian cheers and jeers microcosm of Bush Legacy

A strange thing happened on day two of President Bush’s five-nation tour of Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Sunday.

Jeers were replaced by cheers; signs of Bush wearing a toothbrush mustache and jackboots were replaced by bold exclamations about American’s generous democracy.

According to one Reuters report, people were actually wearing t-shirts emblazoned with Bush’s face without that seemingly ubiquitous Alfred E. Neuman “what, me worry?” grin.

He actually looked presidential in the eyes of onlookers; at least, of course, until he attempted to articulate what he called a Swahili equivalent of a west Texas “Howdy y’all.”

Even so, Bush was lauded by Tanzanian President as being a friend to his country and to the continent as a whole.

It is true, of course, that Bush climbed into the coffers to dole out more monetary aid to Africa than any president in American history—even more than the so-called “first Black president,” Bill Clinton.

(Taking away any value judgments upon the sincerity of the transactions, I certainly would rather see my tax dollars being spent on water filtration systems and anti-Malarial bed nets in Africa than on infamous earmarks in Washington.)

Of course none of that matters to most Americans, who have an increasing tendency to greet President Bush with the ripest of raspberries.

Bush, it seems, is far less popular in the United States than in many parts of Africa, where nations have seen incidences of malaria and AIDS drop significantly since he became president in 2000.

Americans, it seems, are growing tired of war and are ticking nervously about an economy that’s been deemed in need of serious stimulation.

In truth, if the American people were sitting in the corner office, Africa’s problem would probably register around number 50 on the list of things to do.

Who can blame the American people for being a bit myopic these days? Bush has already spent this nation into late retirement with funds to fuel a war machine that produces ever-greater risks and ever-lesser rewards.

Bush’s reception in Tanzania is not simply emblematic of a grateful nation, but of one side of what will become a wholly disparate presidential legacy for the soon-to-be lame duck.

On the eve of his arrival in Tanzania, while so many geared up for a lovefest with their favorite humanitarian, a few thousand demonstrators crowed the streets of Dar es Salaam to protest Bush’s hawkish foreign policy.

Calling Bush a terrorist and burning American flags, a burgeoning crowd of mostly Muslim protestors aired their grievances against interventionist policies abroad—primarily Afghanistan and Iraq—as well as meddling in affairs close to home in Tanzania and Somalia.

Tanzanians, Muslim or not, know all to well the danger posed by global terrorism.

You should recall that in 1998 more Tanzanians than Americans lost their lives in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam. Further, Tanzanians also have a better understanding of what it is to live in tough economic times than the average American.

In this way Tanzanians are forced to take sides between what America can do for them and what America can do to them.

The lesson here is that no amount of frequent flyer miles or humanitarian aid can shield President Bush from the global affects of his disastrous foreign policy.

Apologists for the Bush Administration have argued that his generosity with our money is borne out of a genuine concern for the plight of the downtrodden in Africa, and not some ulterior motivation marked by transactions between unequals.

Perhaps, however, the nay-sayers have it right: Bush may just be panning for friends in a region of the world that does not totally despise America for what it has come to symbolize.

Either way, it is clear to me that Bush is nothing more than an Eddie Haskell humanitarian. His hand of friendship to Africa coupled with the thumbing of his nose at the rest of the world makes him of man of two minds, two philosophies and two legacies.

And it will only take you 8,000 miles to get to his good side.