I’m sure it’s all a lot more complicated to do than to say, but Real Live Preacher’s suggestion would be pretty remarkable to have happen:
Rayne notes that we have pledged 15 million to help with one of the greatest natural disasters in history, while we make plans to spend 30 to 40 million (not counting security costs) on George Bush’s inauguration. To be fair, all modern presidents spend a lot on their inaugration ceremonies. I imagine this is pretty much in line with the norm.
Still, one wonders what would happen if George Bush were to cancel everything, have instead a simple ceremony in the oval office which could be televised, and at the end, turned to the camera and pledged to send all the money that would have been spent on ceremonies to relief agencies working in the countries around the Indian Ocean.
Of course, there’s always something. And one could argue that, even without the Indian Ocean tsunami, there are any number of marvelous, more subtle causes to which one could dedicate $30-40MM. Still …
And, of course, the better question (both for this crisis, and for those others that always exist), is less what George Bush should do, than what I (and each of us) should do. Which is an ironic juxtaposition with recent posts on Incredibles swag, upcoming DVD releases, and TiVo …