The Folly of Blair, Brown and Bono -- The Wisdom of Gates and Bush

Jacob Weisberg has a pretty good article in Slate [hat tip Toby, the Bilious Young Fogey] on the folly of the current enthusiasts for African aid who want to simply throw money at the problem. They are, he argues, replicating the errors of LBJ's "War on Poverty" debacle. It's a must-read until the end when he has to insert the obligatory Slate swipe at Bush. He admits that Bush has a much better idea, but argues that the implementation of the plan has been incompetent, which is, I think, something of an overstatement. There indeed have been some administrative problems, but the over-riding difficulty has getting local governments in Africa to implement reforms so that they can meet the standards set out by Bush's administration. Once we loosen standards we're back to the old game of tossing money at kleptocrats.

Note the moral mau-mauing by the MSM.

And, to really piss off the lefties, note his judgment that Bill Gates has been by far the most effective force combatting the major problems afflicting Africa.

Read it here.

For more on Gates' philanthropy go here and here.