Helping democracy grow and thrive would be a good idea as long as it didn’t kill the existence of it.

President George Bush announced Wednesday that he was going to release money to help Russia and other ex-Soviet Republics.

The overall aid package from Western countries is worth about $24 billion. The United States is contributing between $2 and $4.5 billion.

The announcement came at a time when the recession still is here. The money needs to be concentrated where the first priority should be—the U.S.

Those billions of dollars could help the U.S. get back on its feet. Bush made the announcement at the same time that Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton spoke about foreign relations. Bush said he was not trying to upstage Clinton by making the announcement, but let’s face it, it is an election year and Bush is hurting. If he makes Clinton look bad, he’ll have the election in the bag.

The aid announcement is supposed to mark the revival of foreign policy. Bush, however, needs to concentrate on the revival of the economy before tackling foreign policy.

Both Democrats and Republicans have accused Bush of moving too slow concerning aid to the new Republics. It’s a shame that the pressure from an election has to make the President act.

Even Richard Nixon said the administration’s support for Russia was pathetic.

Bush’s support for Russia might be pathetic, but the economy is more pathetic. Maybe Bush should take that into consideration before November rolls around.