We are not amused

Cranky and out of joint. Without knowing anything about it much beyond the A-list bloggers' "Live 8 conference call,"  suddenly thrust upon us without ceremony yesterday by Ann Althouse -- "I must say that Bob Geldof is incredibly articulate and informed " -- and others we normally trust to keep us up to speed on matters of moment, together with Tony's and GW's all-Africa-all-the-time press conference today -- not to mention Paul Wolfowitz's meeting with a pro-African group aired on C-Span yesterday -- we're not amused.  No one asked us. Talk about feeling jerked around.  There's a saying about how something new -- and usually unsavory -- always comes out of Africa, but the continent has never been a part of our agenda, and suddenly, out of the blue, we're being asked to embrace it. What about the Middle East, fergossake? Is it a strategeric thing?  If so, please explain, Mr. Bush et al. There's something out here in our neck of the woods that doesn't like a Bob Geldof:

Bob Geldof has told Tony Blair to swear at George Bush. Bob shocked visitors to the launch of the Prime Minister's Commission for Africa [last March] by launching into an expletive-ridden tirade about third-world debt. "Tony and Gordon have to prepare to ring up George and say, 'Do this, George, do this one thing for me. It's going to cost you f**k all, do it for me,'" he ranted. Tony Blair got on to the podium later to say that he agreed with the sentiments of Geldof's statements even if the wording did make him wince.

Some of the conference-call bloggers are thrilled with Geldof's apparent embrace of capitalism and free-market ideas, but hold on a sec.  His unilateral demands for the Leader of the Free World to do as he says remind us of George Soros's hubris. We didn't elect this fellow to represent us, but now he's appointed himself to carry our banner. We appreciate the conference-call bloggers' skepticism and are holding our breath.

Update:  Ann comments "I understand the skepticism, but we were all skeptical too." Point well taken.

Comments

[Teresa]

Hmmm I read some of the other reaction from the A-list bloggers... I'm just a bit skeptical... then again I'm not A-list and I wasn't there. I should go read Capt Ed's take but haven't had time yet.

The biggest problem I see - from my cursory reading - you would have to effect "regime change" in just about every country over there. Consider how much work that has been for just the 2 countries we're working on at the moment. And do they really think that those in power are going to "play nice" because it will make their countries better? It would be great if that's the way the world worked - but to date, I have never come across the story of a tyrant giving up control of his country because it would be in the best interests of his people...