We could learn a thing or two
Thursday, February 16, 2006
So Rene Preval has been elected President of Haiti. I was listening to the discussion on Talk of the Nation today, and the commentators said several comments that I thought were interesting.
The first comment was something like "he'll have to form a government that not only includes his base, but the poeople who voted against him." Golly gosh, that's a lesson we could learn something from. In our highly divided Republican/Democrat Liberal/Conservative nation, our leaders generally either choose or are forced to satisfy their base, and ONLY their base.
The second comment that interested me was made by a Haitian-American who said that democracy was established in Haiti during the Clinton administration, which basically was yesterday in the history of the nation. He said that the US is helping legitimize the government by welcoming a democratically elected leader, but pointed out that democracy is as tenuous there as it is in Iraq, another place we're "enabling democracy".
I hope time will bring peace and prosperity to Haiti, a country known as the poorest in the western hemisphere. Perhaps this president will be able to accomplish it.
The first comment was something like "he'll have to form a government that not only includes his base, but the poeople who voted against him." Golly gosh, that's a lesson we could learn something from. In our highly divided Republican/Democrat Liberal/Conservative nation, our leaders generally either choose or are forced to satisfy their base, and ONLY their base.
The second comment that interested me was made by a Haitian-American who said that democracy was established in Haiti during the Clinton administration, which basically was yesterday in the history of the nation. He said that the US is helping legitimize the government by welcoming a democratically elected leader, but pointed out that democracy is as tenuous there as it is in Iraq, another place we're "enabling democracy".
I hope time will bring peace and prosperity to Haiti, a country known as the poorest in the western hemisphere. Perhaps this president will be able to accomplish it.
posted by Burton at 7:16 PM
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