Silver linings are where you find them. One from Katrina is the outpouring of private-sector help – from in-kind and hands-on to cash – from around the country. It’s a reminder of what Americans have always done in times of crisis.
Of no less note, however, is that many countries – from Canada, Cuba and Venezuela to China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka — have reached out to the United States with offers of aid. Some of it is nominal; some is substantial. Some has political overtones. None of it is unimportant.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice underscored the significance.
“I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community,” said Rice.
A concomitant hope would be that the Bush Administration, which has maneuvered the U.S. into a worldwide, unilateralist posture on several fronts, will be similarly reminded.