The Insincerity of the President Bush’s Social Justice Agenda

Although this is not meant to fault the Post, it should be noted that its Sunday, March 11 issue included only three words out of the several pounds of material issued that day, which referred to the President’s trip to Latin American. The absence of coverage is a delicious testament to the exiguous nature of Mr. Bush’s social justice agenda and its modest believability when it comes to the Americas. While poverty is nothing new in Latin America, the President’s belated stress on it after six years into his two-term presidency belies the credibility of his commitment to its alleviation. Unfortunately, instead of committing to the pursuit of “social justice” in the region, he is instead reacting to the strategic challenge that is being aggressively sought after by the region’s new leadership– many of whom have courted favor with the masses by attempting to authentically address their grievances. Mr. Bush’s long Latin American trip has been marked by disingenuously pursuing social justice as a matter of strategy rather than of ethical merit. Such a lapse towards Latin America only perpetuates a cycle of interaction based upon patronization and sporadic reactions to strategic challenges than the formation of a sound foreign policy. It would seem that until the United States’ commitment to social justice and the poor are born of its own volition, the insincerity of the President’s social justice agenda will continue to struggle for its own three words in your newspaper.