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HIS NAME is Matt Pettigrew, he's a Philadelphia lawyer and he's got a brilliant idea about how to help the poor people of tsunami-ravaged Southeast Asia. It's also stunningly simple. In an impassioned e-mail he sent me and others yesterday morning, Pettigrew noted that while our government is promising $35 million for tsunami aid, President Bush's people are planning to spend $40 million or more on next month's inauguration and the parties afterward. "Apparently," Pettigrew wrote, "most of the costs are being paid by corporate and individual donors. But, obviously the government will have to foot some of the bill for the overwhelming security, if nothing else." So it occurred to him that it would be an "amazingly generous and humanitarian gesture to cancel or at least reduce the size of the inauguration parties and parades." All the millions of diverted private and government money could go for tsunami relief instead. Didn't I tell you it was brilliant? Now Matt Pettigrew is a Democrat who, with 56 million other Americans, voted for John Kerry. He knows his idea might seem like a sour-grapes partisan attempt to deprive Bush of his victory march. So he wrote: "I honestly believe, because of the magnitude of this tragedy, that I would be suggesting the same thing if the inauguration was for Kerry or anyone else." Me, too. And trust me - no one wanted to see John and Teresa cut up the floor at the inaugural ball more than I did. Besides, Bush wouldn't be the first commander-in-chief to pull the plug on a big bash because events might make it look a bit unseemly. Franklin Delano Roosevelt did it back in 1945, when it seemed not just morally obscene but politically dicey to be partying hearty while troops were dying all over the world. Some - including editorial writers for the Inquirer and New York Sun - have already suggested that Bush cancel the inaugural bash, given how many of our troops have perished in Iraq. But believe me, it's gonna appear even more grotesque, come Jan. 20, for the world to see televised shots of a waltzing, white-tied Bush juxtaposed with shots of human misery not just in Iraq but in Asia, where, three weeks from now, cholera and other awful diseases may be running rampant. Especially when this inauguration's theme is, ahem, "A Vision of America." As Pettigrew notes, many Americans have already made generous donations to churches, synagogues, or other organizations that are involved in the tsunami relief operations. But he'd like us to do one more thing: Contact the White House, the Republican National Committee, the official inauguration committee, politicians, newspapers, friends, and family and ask that they hop on this Stop-the-Ball bandwagon. "This administration pays attention to public opinion," he says. "If enough people suggest that the United States could afford to do more, especially if it cuts back on the inaugural extravagance, maybe the government will listen. "Even if it proves to be impossible to down-size the inauguration festivities, maybe the richest country in history will be embarrassed enough to come up with more than a meager $35 million to help the millions of people who now have nothing." I don't know about you, but that's a Vision of America I'd be proud to support. Want to help? Phone the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500. Tell 'em Matt sent you. * Send e-mail to polaner@phillynews.com |
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