World News Korner

President Obama. Sometimes it is just the small things that signify his courage.

Courtesy of Slate:

Barack Obama displayed inspiring leadership on Friday. He also promoted public health, fought bigotry, and helped calm raging paranoia. His heroic act? He hugged somebody.

Nina Pham, the first person to be infected with Ebola within the United States, had just been declared disease-free and discharged from the National Institutes of Health. Obama is a rational, science-friendly guy, so he knew she wasn’t any danger to him. It didn’t take courage to hug her.

And yet, another modern president failed a similar test. Facing the greatest public health crisis of his administration, Ronald Reagan was not heroic. He was a dithering coward.

The hateful, homophobic, racist response to the AIDS crisis is one of the most shameful episodes in recent American history. Within a few years after the first AIDS cases were reported in 1981, scientists knew the disease was transmitted primarily by sex, blood transfusions, and shared needles.

The article goes on to revisit the fear mongering and hatred displayed by the conservatives, while others worked diligently to provide accurate information to help put American minds at ease.

Sadly when the country needed a strong leader there were none to be found.

But Ronald Reagan? He didn’t do a goddamn thing. He was president when the first cases were reported. He was president when Congress, the National Academies of Science, and anybody with a sick loved one or a conscience called for the federal government to do more to fight the medical and social crisis.

Reagan could have spoken out against panic and called for compassion; the man knew how to give a powerful speech. He could have hugged an AIDS patient, or at least shaken hands. He knew (or should have known) that wouldn’t have been dangerous—just as well as Obama knew hugging a recovered Ebola patient wasn’t dangerous. It would have made a difference.

I love pointing out all of the ways that Barack Obama is a better President than Ronald Reagan. Partly because it drives conservatives crazy, but mostly simply because it's true.

Thankfully we have a leader like Barack Obama in these troubled times and not a "B" actor playing the role of a leader like we did back in the 80's.

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