I've criticized Bill Clinton forever, today I'm celebrating him. I saw him on Meet the Press yesterday, interviewed by Brokaw, and was stunned by his eloquence re Africa. I saw the statesman for once. I wonder if it has to do with his concentration on something completely outside his own field of self-interest. Get into that field and you're toast.
Here's what he said that I found so moving: That Central Africa is becoming a success story. That 14 years after Rwandans killed 10 percent of the country's population in 90 days, its economy is moving forward. That it is wrong to speak of "Africa," and Americans should get out of the habit. We should start to speak of the individual countries there by name, and get to know them. And most important, at a time when America is hated around the world (my word; he was softer), in Central Africa we are loved. In about 10 countries where George Bush's AIDS initiative has unfolded, people love America and are thankful for what we have done.
My heart moved on this one, I gotta say. The extension of spirit from Clinton, and the lesson. And yes, of course, I apply it to the Middle East. Do you understand how little it takes to change the face of America to the world? Do you see how easy it would be to transform Arab hearts by actually asking one time, What do Palestinians want? For once after 60 years of trashing their rights in every international forum? (And even Clinton, on the phone to Barak every other minute in the months leading up to Camp David, and then trying to throttle Arafat into a deal that would have left broad Israeli presence in the West Bank) If we were to try to be a fair broker for once in that little part of the world, it would be cathartic and politically shapeshifting. Because look how little it has taken in Africa–how many of us even think of Bush's splendid initiative there? Let's be American again.
