TSUNAMI.CBS 01/02/05 7:19 PM-DLR   1:44
The Osgood File.  Sponsored by ________.  This is Dave Ross.  On the CBS Radio Network.
The Secretary of State heads to Asia to make it clear that yes, the United States will take a leading role in helping victims of the tsunami, and that yes, the President of the United States DOES care.  The question is - why would anyone think otherwise?
I'll be back after this:
(SPOT)
The US Navy helicopters that landing in devastated areas of Indonesia with supplies were immediately mobbed by survivors.  These are the first of many relief missions, and they come just as Secretary of State Powell tries to defuse editorial critics who felt the Bush administration was a little too preoccupied with Christmas in Crawford when the tusnami hit.
It's been suggested that the President was slow to wake up to the magnitude of the disaster, that his initial commitment of aid was embarrassingly low, that he almost blew a chance to make it clear how much we really DO care about Muslim nations, and to rehabilitate an image badly damaged by the Iraq war.
But if you look at this logically, why should the world have to wait for a pronouncement from the President of the United States certifying the magnitude of an obviously catastrophic disaster?  And regardless of what he says or doesn't say, shouldn't it be OBVIOUS that the American people are going to help?  We always have, we always will.  And a lot of that help will come from groups having nothing to do with the government - groups whose money comes not from taxes but from collection baskets, coin jars, and childrens' piggy banks.  
But you know what?  The US government will end up doing more than anyone else too, because we have the planes, we have the ships, we have the helicopters, and we have the troops.
So why the doubts?
I guess it's because when you take on the role of Savior, you kind of raise expectations - the world is going to look to you when it needs a miracle.  And if you want to hang on to the title, you'd better produce.
The Osgood File.  Dave Ross.  On the CBS Radio Network. ~C:\works\files\TSUNAMI.CBS