MOST NATIONAL leaders, like old soldiers, seem to fade praised or reviled into the pages of history. Our own Prime Minister says he will make his exit sometime in the present term; his opposite number, the Opposition Leader, stays mum.Former American presidents, however, tend to stay active and useful. Bill Clinton has spearheaded a number of credible and worthwhile projects on an international scale. Most recently his Foundation has brokered an agreement to get several pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost of drugs used in the treatment of AIDS. This practical achievement comes on the heels of President George Bush's announcement earlier this year that America will make some US$15 billion available to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa and the Caribbean. Mr. Clinton's contribution to the fight against AIDS will result in the annual cost of treatment being cut in half to US$140 per person or about J$8,500.
In announcing his new initiative, he pointed out that there are five to six million people in the developing world with AIDS, only about 250,000 of whom are receiving treatment. As part of the new agreement, the new cheaper generic drugs will be produced by pharmaceutical companies in India and South Africa and patients with AIDS in Jamaica will begin to benefit from the new initiative starting in 2005.
Mr. Clinton's post-presidential altruism follows in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter, whose selfless devotion to ongoing public service on a world scale is well-known to us in Jamaica. The Carter Centre over the years has been active in helping to solve international disputes and has sent observers to Jamaica for two general elections to participate with Jamaica's own Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections in monitoring the results.
President Bush who, despite worldwide opinion to the contrary, thinks that his moral balance sheet is squeaky clean, was heckled recently while addressing the Australian Parliament by two of its senators opposed to the Iraqi war. More serious is the rebuff Mr. Bush received from his own senators back home in America who joined with their colleagues in the House of Representatives in voting to end the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba.
With his eye on the anti-Castro Cuban vote in Florida, crucial for his bid for a second presidential term, Mr. Bush had recently announced plans to enforce the travel ban so the vote in the Senate is an acute embarrassment. It is likely that he will veto the Bill when it comes to him for signature and we doubt that the two-thirds vote necessary to overturn the veto can be mustered in a Republican controlled Congress, with a national election coming up in 2004.
There are those who think that George Bush will be a one-term President and perhaps it is after he has ridden off into the sunset that he will join his illustrious predecessors in doing good works and helping to re-establish America's reputation in the world community.
