Former Alaskan governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin took her road show to Haiti on Saturday Dec. 11, just as the country is dealing with a massive cholera outbreak and a flawed political election process.

Palin, who invited by the charity organization Samaritan’s Purse, would only allow U.S. cable network Fox News to accompany her, cutting off all other media access.

Fox News has been decidedly Republican and conservative in their political commentary, so that news should come as no surprise to anyone.

What is a surprise to most Haitians is why Sarah Palin is there in the first place. For a country in desperate need of medical supplies, construction materials and food and water, the only reason they would really want to see Sarah Palin is if she were to arrive on a barge loaded with what the country needs.

Instead, Haiti got a woman who will be looking to represent her political party in the upcoming presidential election, and is using their country as a political stump.

Samaritan’s Purse, the organization hosting Palin’s visit, closed off their compound to all outside media except Fox, citing a “security lockdown.”

I guess they didn’t want to have the media ask Palin any questions about America’s “North Korean allies.”

Journalists in Haiti from the Associated Press reported seeing Palin talking with a gathering of foreign aid volunteers, although they can’t report what was said because they had no access.

Samaritan’s Purse was good enough to post a statement made by Sarah Palin on their website.

“I’ve really enjoyed meeting this community. They are so full of joy,” Palin reportedly said. “We are so fortunate in America, and we are responsible for helping those less fortunate.”

Well, first of all Mrs. Palin, there a whole lot of people in America who aren’t feeling very fortunate right about now, with unemployment at historically high rates, and hundreds of thousands of people facing homelessness due to the massive amounts of home foreclosures.

Second of all, it’s really nice that you enjoyed meeting the community, but what is it exactly that you intend on doing to help that community?

Haiti has gone through a year that no country in modern times has ever been through. Over 300,000 dead, more dying every day due to a massive cholera outbreak, water that is contaminated and undrinkable, and a political system that can’t even get through a proper election. So what exactly was it that you enjoyed?

The country of Haiti needs a lot more than a political visit. It needs real politicians who actually care and want to do something.

Unfortunately, Obama’s Democratic party took a complete whipping at the polls during mid-term elections in early November, and Obama is now forced to play the role of The Great Compromiser.

Last week, the week of Nov. 30, Obama acquiesced to Republican demands and agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts, including for the wealthy, in exchange for extending  Federal unemployment benefits.

At the time, Obama thought that he had no choice but to compromise, saying that it would have been “foolhardy” to deny millions of Americans additional Federal jobless benefits at a time when the country was still reeling from historically high unemployment rates.

“I’m not willing to see 2 million Americans who stand to lose their unemployment insurance at the end of this month be put in a situation where they might lose their home or their car or suffer some additional economic catastrophe,” Obama said.

In addition, Obama said that the added burden of not extending the tax cuts while at the same time ending the extension of Federal jobless benefits was a proposition that he was not willing to stomach at a time when the country is still in the midst of an economic slowdown.

Of course, many Democratic leaders heavily criticized Obama for caving to Republican demands, and that he was bargaining with the devil.

On Dec. 10, President Obama called out the big guns.

Former President Bill Clinton, still immensely popular with the Democratic, sat down for a consultation with Obama after the current president requested the sage advice of a man who had been through it before.

The two met for at least 90 minutes as they discussed the current situation. There are stark similarities between what Obama is facing now and what former President Clinton faced back in 1994. Two years after taking office, Clinton’s Democratic party had also been soundly defeated in mid-term elections, and Clinton moved to the political center in order to work with his opposing party to pass key legislation.

After the two met, former President Clinton met with the press to sum up their conversation, and also to urge his party to back their leader.

Clinton agreed that the deal was nowhere close to being ideal, but that lawmakers should back the deal in order to ensure that middle-class Americans get the tax cuts and jobless benefits that they need and deserve.

“On its own, I wouldn’t support it because I don’t think that my tax cut is the most economically efficient way to get the economy going again,” Clinton said. “However, the agreement taken as a whole is, I believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the largest number of Americans.”

Clinton went on to say that it was the right deal, and that his party should accept it.

Obama greatly admired Clinton’s stewardship of the American economy during the 1990s, and while it was clear he had the support of the former President, it is unclear how today’s meeting between the two will play out with the rest of the Democratic party.