Angelina Jolie Pressures Obama To Do More For Darfur

Angelina Jolie has written an Op Ed for Newsweek "Justice Delayed Is Not Justice Denied" calling on Obama to do more to help Darfur.

Jolie is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

In the web exclusive, Jolie writes in part:

I believe President Obama and his special envoy Scott Gration will do their best to bring peace to the region. Their policy, though, raises a number of questions. How is the Obama administration's approach to Sudan an evolution of justice? In addition, when the administration says it intends to work to "improve the lives of the people of Darfur," I would like to know what that means, besides the obvious point that their lives could hardly get worse.

She also recommends they look a study her charity helped fund:

I also hope we will act sooner and more powerfully to prevent future atrocities. A Council on Foreign Relations report released today (funded by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation) offers recommendations..

Read the whole thing here.

Comments

[Jason Scott Breniser]

02:15 AM on 02/09/2010

I've always liked her...

[Haitiana4Obama]

05:11 PM on 12/30/2009

I think that while the President does have much to do at home to stabilize the economy, protect the nation militarily, and reform Health-Care, Miss Jolie isn't off base to call more attention to the plight of those suffering inhumane conditions in Dafur. What Jolie is doing is way more acceptable in my mind then the corporations who LOBBY Congress for favors, at least her focus is on the betterment of humanity and not really self-serving special interests.

[poiel]

05:59 PM on 12/15/2009

She is the hottest actress in Hollywood: http://www.actressscene.com/2008/07/angelina-jolie-and-elizabeth-mitchell.html

[noellabella]

05:28 PM on 12/14/2009

I have just been seething about this since Friday! Is Ms. Jolie not aware of the $11 trillion dollar deficit, the 10.2% unemployment rate, the homeless, the hungry, the displaced from Katrina (yes still), the price of gas, out of control renst, the foreclosures, and the high cost of living here? What about the ex vets up in Los Angeles at the Va Administration, who are homeless and hungry and living under bridges. This is the nation Angelina Jolie was born in, we are the nation that made her famous and she shows little concern for our plights. President Obama has his hands full already trying to restore this nation to it's former pre-recession state. Maybe she should reach into her own deep pockets and give to Darfur, America has been and is in a crisis and need our President to focus soley on the job we elected him to do.

[atienne]

08:23 AM on 12/14/2009

ExPatPatti, thank you! I believe you don't have to be world traveled but be world sensitive. There's nothing wrong with caring about American citizens and their plight. I care very deeply about what goes on in my own country, my own community. But what is wrong with extending caring to other cultures and people of the world who know a suffering unlike what is currently wrong in the US?

Humanity doesn't stop at the US borders.

[atienne]

08:20 AM on 12/14/2009

Cherybaby-Good for you! Seriously! You don't need to be a Goodwill Ambassador. But, I suspect that many of the bashers aren't probably doing much of anything to make a difference. I suspect a good majority are just bashing because they enjoy it. They don't have her life so instead of looking at the greater good and sitting down and thinking 'What can I do?' they tear down people that try.

[Merg]

01:03 AM on 12/14/2009

As I recall, Angelina has been asked to join the Council of Foreign Relations and she also said, about a year ago, that the US should keep our troops in Iraq. This lady is not what you might consider a progressive in her own opinions. Strange that she should be prodding our President, who has so much yet to do for the people of this country, do spend more efforts on other countries.

[Progressneeded]

11:11 PM on 12/13/2009

I don't understand the vitriol people feel for Angelina. How come it was o.k. for Leanne Rimes, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullocks, Tori Spelling etc. to steal husbands from pregnant women or women with children but Angie is the only bad person.

[World Citizen]

08:01 AM on 12/14/2009

I'm sure if you took the time to ask those same people, those same people would also say that it's not ok for anyone to steal somebody else's husband. And I am one of those people. In anycase, you're off topic.

[Progressneeded]

12:41 AM on 12/16/2009

How is it off topic to defend a woman by pointing out that she is always being crucified for doing what other's have! Sandra Bullock is hailed as a hero from trying to take his stepchild away from her "porn star" mom, give me a break!

[duze]

07:41 PM on 12/13/2009

Angelina told President Obama how she felt and asked him to do more for Dafur if possible. However, what she did not do is pressure President Obama. No one pressures President Obama. He is the most powerful man in the world. Angelina Jolie's likes and dislikes are not the #1 priority on his to do list. She can only ask and hopehat her request is in some way granted. Don't get it twisted Angelina is but one more american that has an opinion or solution to a major problem facing this country. That's it.

[Huminawah]

06:11 PM on 12/14/2009

She is just another American, but she has a greater chance to actually get a response of some sort. That's cool by me. The rest of us will just have to walk softly and carry a megaphone!!

[Marie62866]

04:06 PM on 12/13/2009

Angie, really YOU STOLE ANOTHER WIFES HUSBAND!!

[grdavis1019]

06:38 PM on 12/13/2009

Get your Hollywood millionaire friends together, chip in, and buy the country. Ya'll got more money than you could spend in 100 lifetimes. Do something useful with it while you're alive.

[Progressneeded]

11:01 PM on 12/13/2009

Actually, she chips in more than her fair share. What about you?

[Progressneeded]

11:00 PM on 12/13/2009

Maybe if the wife was not so self-obsessed with being a size o she would have noticed the problems in the relationship! Regardless, he with no sins may cast the first stone! Or maybe you are G0D, therefore, free of shortcomings! Besides, you did not notice, this is not the Hollywood gossip blog!

[progressivelady]

03:11 PM on 12/13/2009

Unbelievable where was she the last 8 years? and if she is so concerend why not adopt a kid or three from the region, or even a better idea how about a good ole red white and blue child, we have many, many here homeless and starving come on ms. homewrecker put up or shut up.

[Haditup2here]

12:14 AM on 12/14/2009

My thoughts exactly. She should have spoke up earlier when Bush was in office but I guess that wouldn't been a popular move giving the tongue lashing that the Dixie Chicks received.

[riotnikki]

02:38 PM on 12/13/2009

This woman is doomed in public opinion. If she says anything relevant she is attacked if she doesn't say anything she is attacked for NOT saying anything. I've always liked her and that was BEFORE she had kids and Brad, when she was kinda nutty. That she continues to evolve AND has to deal with being the most watched couple (family) on the planet increases my admiration.

[Progressneeded]

11:04 PM on 12/13/2009

I am with you! I finds it disgusting that people can't seperate his private mistake from her public service. Although judging from what I have been reading lately, she did get the short end of the stick in this case. I don't think Brad is mush od a prize. I still say the woman who broke my marriage did me a favor and maybe Jennifer needs to do some introspection, she might come up with the same conclusion!

[kelly odell]

02:19 PM on 12/13/2009

how about for us first? The banks are robbing us blind and putting millions into the street!

And when exactly are WE going to rise up against the massive transfer of wealth from the middle and lower class to the upper class? Election day? thats a LAUGH.

[jade7243]

01:31 PM on 12/13/2009

From the President's Nobel Peace Prize Lecture:

"The same principle applies to those who violate international law by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur; systematic rape in Congo; or repression in Burma – there must be consequences. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.

This brings me to a second point – the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.

[snip]

And yet all too often, these words are ignored. In some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation's development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists – a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.

==============
Perhaps Ms. Jolie should spend more time and money calling out the Sudanese government.

[Crumbysmom]

01:44 PM on 12/13/2009

Good post!!! And I totally agree with Obama.

[Huminawah]

01:03 PM on 12/13/2009

I really admire people who own multimillion dollar homes in France and then call out the president of the United States to take action as if he and this country isn't stretched to the limit. I would love nothing more to admire Angelina for her good deeds and philanthropy, but she didn't walk away from abundance and posh living. Though I don't think her actions are altruistic, I do find it insulting and embarrassing to doctors, aid and relief workers, and human rights activists who give up much more in proportion, and at a greater risk.

[Crumbysmom]

01:43 PM on 12/13/2009

Fanned.

I totally agree. Its not like Obama is sitting there watching reruns of Jersey Shore on MTV and sending tweets. Darfur needs more help but bashing Obama for not doing enough 11 months into office with 1,000 problems on his lap right now is not the way to get it.

How about I bash her for not having adopted kids from Darfur. They need you Angie and you don't care. You talk about Darfur but I don't see any adoption action going on. Your all words. See you can bash anybody for anything.

[lioness39]

07:31 PM on 12/13/2009

What a great post.