MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" devoted an 18-minute segment this morning to Sudan, inviting actor George Clooney and Enough’s John Prendergast to discuss perceptions from their recent trip to Sudan and expectations of the challenges that lay ahead as the country prepares for a likely split. They touch on U.S. advocacy efforts, the U.N.’s effectiveness in Sudan, the role of China, and their Satellite Sentinel Project, interspersed with some pretty brilliant and funny impersonations by Clooney.
Asked whether the Obama administration really “gets it,” Prendergast had this to say about why engagement in Sudan has become a foreign policy priority for the White House:
“What’s happened, I think, is the politicization of the Sudan policy. Constituencies have been built – in no small measure due to people like George, who have brought a lot of attention to the matter – (…) particularly within faith-based communities and the student movements. And now, everyone from President Bush to President Obama takes this constituency seriously, and it becomes a political issue, not just some backwater policy issue decided in the bowels of the State Department.”
Here’s the full segment:
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