Bush, Clinton dismiss political statements stemming from quake

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton made the news show rounds Sunday morning to put on a show of unity in the wake of the Haiti earthquake and dismiss controversial partisan statements that have come from pundits in the aftermath.

Bush and Clinton, who appeared with President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden at the White House on Saturday to promote their Haiti relief effort, said that the priority should be stabilizing Haiti in the short term by providing food, medicine and water to the victims of Tuesday’s magnitude 7.0 temblor.

{mosads}”We can worry about the long term after the situation has been stabilized,” Bush said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about the money that has been previously poured into making Haiti a viable state.

“But I think it’s a legitimate question. You know, do we want to put
money into a society that hasn’t benefited after we’ve stabilized?” Bush said. “The answer is I think we do, just so long as we work with the
government to develop a strategy that makes sense. To say the country
can’t succeed is too defeatist as far as I’m concerned.”

Clinton said that before the quake struck Haiti had the “best chance of our lifetime” to build a modern and thriving state, and that the disaster should delay that progress but not derail it.

“I would define success as setting up a network quickly to get the food,
water, medicine, security, and information people need, and then, as
quickly as possible, resuming the path they were on before the
earthquake to build a strong, modern country,” Clinton said.

“Our job is to set up a fund to make sure that the compassion is still
existent once the crisis gets off TV and to make sure people’s money is
wisely spent,” Bush said.

Clinton and Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, mounted a similar effort after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that hit 14 countries and killed nearly 230,000. That campaign raised about $1 billion for disaster relief, and Clinton said Sunday that the areas in which funds were concentrated now have a better standard of living than before the tsunami.

Bush and Clinton were asked on CNN about the statements such as that of conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who said that Obama will see Haiti as an opportunity to boost his credibility with the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country,” and who told listeners “you already give to Haitian relief; it’s called the income tax.” Host John King also brought up, without naming the MSNBC host, Keith Olbermann putting up a picture of the quake devastation and saying, “We are reminded of what healthcare reform really means.”

The pair, who appeared on CNN, “Fox News Sunday,” ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’ “Face the Nation,” agreed that politics should be left out of the relief effort.

“When people see us together — look, they know we have a lot of differences even though we’re friends,” Clinton said. “The only political thing I hope that comes out of this is that people
keep their differences of conviction, but they treat their neighbors as
friends.

“We don’t want to contribute to this political debate right now.”

Bush, who said that his mother refers to Clinton as his “step-brother,” concurred that their mission was simply helping the relief efforts.

Both said it was their duty to show up when asked to help by Obama, and that they were briefed on relief efforts thus far by the current commander in chief.

“It was good to walk back through here,” Bush said of returning to the White House on Saturday. “It’s interesting. I frankly don’t miss the limelight.

“I’m glad to help out, but there’s life after the presidency is what I’ve learned, and I’m going
to live the fullest, and this is part of living it to the fullest, to
help other people,” Bush said.