Who’s better on AIDS?
Bush or Obama? Who is better on AIDS? Now that’s truly an interesting question. The knee-jerk answer might be President Obama, but the jury is still out on the correct answer to that question.
Last week, I noted my displeasure with America’s first-ever National AIDS Strategy, which was unveiled by President Obama. The plan offers few new ideas for fighting the epidemic and only increases funding modestly. This after it took a Democratic administration 18 months to address HIV/AIDS at all.
People are beginning to take notice that Obama has been underwhelming when it comes to HIV/AIDS policies. Though truthfully, most progressives find this entire administration underwhelming on a wide-range of issues.
I was walking in D.C. last week and the ad “Who’s better on AIDS?” featuring Obama and Bush’s face caught my attention. It’s a good question. Though we could fault George W. Bush for any number of evils, he was quite good on HIV/AIDS — especially overseas. The scope and ambition of Bush’s plan to eliminate AIDS in Africa was bold compared to Obama’s limp efforts to combat the disease here in America.
Only time will tell if President Obama will be a disappointment on AIDS, as he has been on health care and gay rights.
