This posting, on the other hand, is wildly fresh and incisive

At the risk of being judgmental, it has to be said: The tsunami and its aftermath prompted some of the most useless commentary we’ve seen in quite a while.

Paul Martin was to blame for being too slow off the mark. So were George Bush and Tony Blair. Our response was inadequate. We were embarrassing ourselves.

It was an act of God, punishing us for our sins. It was an act of Mother Nature, punishing us for our environmental sins. It had no meaning at all.

It was bringing out the spirit of generosity in all Canadians. It was bringing out the spirit of self-satisfaction in all Canadians. We were taking too much pride in giving.

We were paying too much attention. We were shamefully losing interest. We would shamelessly lose interest. We should shamelessly lose interest. We…

Well, you get the point. But the thing is, I don’t really think it was mostly commentators’ fault…and I’m not just saying that so my colleagues aren’t pissed off at me.

See, the problem was, the tsunami so outweighed every other news story that opinion writers and talking heads had to cover it, or else risk looking like they had no sense of perspective. But take it from someone who was doing his best to come up with something that there was nothing fresh or incisive to say.

Most world events lend themselves to a million different angles. This one did not. Everyone agrees what happened was horrific. Nobody, except for complete wing nuts, disagreed with providing ample aid dollars. And when you get right down to it, the response from governments and private citizens alike has been, well, appropriate. Not too much…not too little…just the only reasonable course of action.

That doesn’t make for scintillating commentary. But neither does most of what’s been said over the past few weeks. Sometimes, there’s just nothing to be said beyond the obvious.