Ruth Levine of the Center for Global Development (a fabulous organization, for anyone who cares about development issues) offers her take on President Obama’s recent speech in Ghana, and the reasoning he offers for U.S. support for public health in Africa and beyond:
America will support these efforts through a comprehensive, global health strategy, because in the 21st century, we are called to act by our conscience but also by our common interest, because when a child dies of a preventable disease in Accra, that diminishes us everywhere. And when disease goes unchecked in any corner of the world, we know that it can spread across oceans and continents.
President Obama specifically acknowledged that these efforts would build on “the strong efforts of President Bush.” At the same time, as Levine points out, he moved the motive for our mission from “compassion” to “conscience” and “common interest.”
Mere wordsmithery, or more? Here’s Levine’s take:
I’m no hermeneut, but I think the word choice represents a significant shift. Compassion connotes a relationship between individuals, where one is empathetic and voluntarily chooses to ease the suffering of another. Conscience implies a duty, based on knowledge of right and wrong. And common interest clearly balances the notion of a lifeboat, offered for reasons either of compassion or conscience, with an image of us all in the same boat.
Ultimately, though, a real sea-change in America’s development strategy and success will depend on our actions, not words. It has been discouraging to see USAID left without a leaderfor the first 6+ months of the administration; the word on the street is that the highly experienced Paul Farmer is the candidate of choice, but as Secretary Clinton herself recently lamented, “the clearance and vetting process is a nightmare.” The Secretary announced last week that the Department would undertake its first ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which may help guide a more strategic approach to development assistance going forward. Stay tuned for more in her speech tomorrow at the Council on Foreign Relations…
