John Baer: Rendell Haiti mission merits praise, not grumbles

AFTER ED RENDELL went to Haiti last week and came back with a planeload of orphans, he seemed like a new man. I've watched him since he was district attorney, and don't recall him as energized or enthused.

At a news conference the day he returned, he called the experience "the best . . . it was just incredible." If those of us in the jaded world of journalism saw the faces of the Haitian kids, he said, "they would have melted your hearts."

On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, he said of the trip: "It's the best single day I've spent as governor."

First lady and federal judge Midge Rendell, who also went, told me it was "the most memorable 26 hours ever." When she got home, she dictated a 40-page treatise so she'd never forget the details.

It was last Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday, a day when most government workers are off.

Ed went because the orphanage is run by Pittsburgh natives, because the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center sought his aid and because he was directly advised by the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, that he'd need to smooth out bureaucratic bumps all along the way.

Midge went "even though it's not in my job description," because she'd planned to do a day of service anyway (at Girard College), because having a federal judge along can't hurt and because her husband said she could help.

She ended up caring for 18-month-old Alex, cradling him while strapped in a troop seat along the wall of an Air Force C-17 cargo plane for the two-hour-plus trip from Haiti back to the States.

There's criticism suggesting that Rendell bullied his way into a disaster area for national face time and humanitarian plaudits - and historically there's been no shortage of such cheap tricks by politicians. Some argue that these children were in less immediate danger than others, and that Rendell's trek displaced or slowed efforts to get critical aid to the island.

But Rendell's plane also carried 25 medical workers and 2 1/2 tons of medical supplies. And the truth here is that Rendell's contacts and push-ever-forward approach to tasks combined to create a moment of undeniable good.

What sensate being would mock, deride or otherwise diminish his actions?

It's not like there was a plan in place to help the island's orphans. No. There was chaos. What he did was overcome it. What he did was to forever alter the lives of 54 Haitian children, their adoptive parents, their extended families, the communities in which they will live; and started a ripple that can buoy other adoptive efforts.

At a time when government is mired in partisanship and ineptitude, Rendell forced government out of stasis and into a gush of goodwill.

At a time when politicians are frozen in place, unable to achieve a thing, Rendell got something done.

He cut red tape to allow the mission. He used personal ties to the State Department and Homeland Security to untangle snags in Haiti. And he helped secure military transport home after the plane he arrived in left Port-au-Prince under orders to clear the airport for others.

Afterward, he credited many, including Pittsburgh Congressman Jason Altmire, who was on the trip, and said: "Listen, be proud of being an American citizen and be proud of your government."

Rendell's career is driven by a belief that government can positively impact lives. This was a manifestation of that belief.

It doesn't change the fact that his legacy as governor is tied to gambling, the '05 pay raise and inability to get a budget on time.

But on a state holiday in the first month of his last year in office, he demonstrated the power of public service - and how to make it work.