Prez Donates $10,000 to Tsunami Victims

The banner headlines around the world trumpeting the Bush donation emphasize that the donation came from Bush’s “own money”, or from his “personal funds”, or “from his own pocket”. I would hope so. After making so much noise urging Americans “to send cash donations to reliable charities to help those affected by the disaster”, it would not look good for the Prez to pull a few miscellaneous bucks out of a WH slush fund to donate in his name. Press Secretary Scott McClellan wouldn’t say exactly which organizations the Bush donation favored except that “he chose groups listed in the USA Freedom Corps Web site” and that “the checks were mailed Wednesday”. Bloggers on the Japan Today site are having a discussion about whether Bush is filthy rich or just rich, or maybe not even rich at all since he took a pay cut to be US President. As I’ve mentioned before, according to the Wall Street Journal, George W. and Laura Bush had an income totaling $822,126 last year, and their net worth is between $7.7 and $18.9 million. How much the President and Mrs. President donate to charities, and whether they tithe (give 10% of their income as outlined in the Bible) isn’t as interesting as how the sum of $10,000 was decided on. With that much money in their personal coffer, it would be prudent for the Bushes to give a chunk, a big chunk, to charities--it’s deductible. But why $10,000? Wouldn’t $100,000 look better when spread out over many organizations? It probably was a dilemma wrangled over for many hours by the WH wise guys. But since the Bushmaton is a man of the people, a regular guy, a virtual Joe Six-pack in a suit (albeit badly tailored according to the bulge apologists), then 10,000 smackeroos is a sum the Nascar crowd can understand. And $10,000 it is. It’s such a ticklish thing, deciding these issues. At first the freepers were outraged at the suggestion it would have been a good political ploy for the WH to give lots and lots of money to aid the tsunami victims, since many of the affected people were Muslims. How dare anyone suggest that this disaster be politicized, the freepers cried. But now Colin Powell is saying that aiding Muslims shows what a good and upright and ecumenical nation we are. So now politicizing the tsunami is good, right and proper. And we may see the President’s donation upped, depending on what the press does with the information. If it’s found the nation and the world can handle the idea that President Joe Six-Pack is filthy rich, then the donation may be upped a lot. I mean, it’s all about spin, isn’t it? As of today, 1342 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. That’s being spun, if only by ramping up the tsunami horror and getting Iraq off column one. The US is stingy/isn’t stingy. That’s being spun as we speak. The Republicans are thugs who have turned the Ethics Committee into the Boys in the Back Room. That’s definitely spinnable. Politics as usual...that sort of thing. The Republicans are starting to hate Bush as much as the rest of the world hates him. That’s a tough one. Got any thoughts on that, Mr. Rove?