Clinton Apologizes to Haiti for his and Bush's policies!

[Mithreal]

With cheap food imports, Haiti can't feed itself

They're led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton - now U.N. special envoy to Haiti - who publicly apologized this month for championing policies that destroyed Haiti's rice production. Clinton in the mid-1990s encouraged the impoverished country to dramatically cut tariffs on imported U.S. rice.

"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. "I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032001329.html

Thanks to Thom Hartmann for highlighting this apology today and more discussion and the op title form allie123 at dkos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/23/849886/-Helping-Haitis-earthquake-survivors:-Clinton-Apologizes-to-Haiti-for-his-and-Bushs-policies!

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I see more than half a dozen ops about Bush wiping his hands on Clinton's shirt and no highlights of Clinton's apology to Haiti - it must be my error not being able to find them.

When do average Americans get their apology for the devastation caused by decades of conservative economic policies, you know, trickle down on us pee-ons.

[louis-t]

1. That's 'tinkle down'.

repugs will never apologize because they don't think they did anything wrong. And, they want to keep doing it.

[Mithreal]

2. Dem Leadership has some apologies to make as well.

[aquart]

3. And so he should.

But words are cheap. Now he has to fix it. And George has to stand there pretending to like it.

Do you have any idea how much I love that George has been forced into doing this? Every second must be pure, undiluted torture to him. Makes me smile.

[Mithreal]

4. Any day that exposes the Bush Crime Family for the filth they are

is a better day than it would otherwise be.

Traitors to their country and outright thieves, they are. Power has its privileges.

[aquart]

5. Exposed? Well, not this year.

But George forced to be kind to poor people? I wonder he can draw a sober breath.

[Mithreal]

6. Poor choice of words, I guess.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. this is something only Democrats seem capable of- and

and it is one of the qualities that I most admire in a person most especially a leader.

I know many don't agree, but the ability to honestly acknowledge doing something wrong and pointing out the negative impact it has caused is a vital part of healing and progress. People who refuse to admit failure or fault, don't grow or change in positive ways.

I agree with Pres.Clinton, and I'm grateful to him for his honesty and humility on this issue.

thanks for posting this.

:hi:

[Mithreal]

8. You're welcome.

:hi:

[DevonRex]

9. Thanks Mithreal. I hadn't seen this and probably wouldn't have

if you hadn't posted it. Why is it that we Democrats can apologize for our wrong decisions and the Pukes never can? In any case I'm proud of Clinton for doing it.

[Mithreal]

11. +1

You're welcome.

[DevonRex]

12. Hey you!

I know we disagree on how to go about things, sometimes quite strongly. But I know your heart is in the right place and I hope you know the same about mine.

:hi:

[Mithreal]

13. I like to believe the best about almost everyone.

Even the ones I disagree with most strongly, you know, try to find something I like about them.

:hi:

[xultar]

10. He rubbed that in Bush's face for rubbing black people cooties on his shirt.

GO BUBBA GO.

[Mithreal]

16. That was embarrassing. Bush gives Americans a bad name.

He'll just shrug it off if anyone thinks to call him on it.

What a disgraceful PoS he is.

He gives morons a bad name.

[FLAprogressive]

14. maybe we'll get an apology for NAFTA

[Mithreal]

15. that'll be the day

but it's a start of sorts

I hate that it takes so much concentrated death and concentrated suffering for some to see the damage caused by conservative economic policies that only enrich the already fabulously wealthy.

All sorts of new free trade agreements are in the works.

[Greyhound]

17. How inconvenient to mention his failed policy just as it's being accelerated, again.

But of course, no one could have predicted...

oh yeah...
:eyes:

[Greyhound]

18. ..

[Moochy]

20. correction

no one (with an eye toward climbing the corporate media ladder) could have predicted the consequence of failed NAFTA promises.

[BeFree]

19. Hard to get a paying job in Haiti

There are so many people down there doing stuff for free that most of the jobs are taken.

Farmers can't profit because of the free food competition.
Builders can't get paid because so many free laborers are there.

The 'free' market is killing employment. As it has for years.

YMMV.