The Incredibly Shrinking Mr. Preval

Rene Preval is the president of Haiti, but he seems to let leaders of other countries do all the talking when it comes to how to rebuild his nation following the January 12 earthquake and all the aftershocks (smaller earthquakes) thereafter. In photos of former President Clinton and former President Bush doing walk-abouts in Port-au-Prince last week, there was an unidentified black dude just a step behind: the president of Haiti.

At a memorial service a month after the big earthquake he said that his wife had urged him to speak to his people right away. And this is what his response was: "What can I say to the people who are dead, who are injured, the people who have lost loved ones? Haitians, the pain is too heavy for words to express."

That's why you are the president, Mr. Preval. Find the words to express what your country needs. Haiti has been screwed up for more than a century, in large measure because of United States policies and those of other foreign governments. Now is the time to put into play long-term development plans that you were talking about more than a year ago and meshing them with those that have emerged since the earthquake through the United Nations and the European Union, among others.

This week your voice should be a megaphone at the conference on Haiti that the United Nations is hosting in New York. Don't be a wimp.