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The optimism is largely a result of President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This five year $15 billion plan will for the first time, put the US in a position to lead the global fight against HIV, the greatest threat to human life in history. The Plan is good news for people battling this disease. But despite the Plan's unprecedented size and potential to save lives, many AIDS advocates won't be celebrating. They will instead be part of a chorus of criticism aimed at Bush. This is a disconnect that requires explanation.

The Bush Plan targets 14 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The major focus is to provide life saving drug treatment to 2 million infected people. In addition, through education and prevention programs, the Plan aims to prevent 7 million new infections. Funding will also be used to provide support for 10 million AIDS orphans and other people living with and affected by the disease. An additional $1 billion will go to the recently created Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis.

The Plan also represents a desperately needed change in US policy in favor of providing life saving drug treatment to people who need it, even if they live in some of the poorest regions of the world. With this effort, Bush has once and for all ended the debate about whether a massive life saving treatment effort in Africa was feasible, and if so, who would pay for it. In addition, if leaders of other wealthy nations follow Bush's lead and increase their contributions, we will for the first time have the resources available to wage a worldwide battle against AIDS.

Critics of the Bush Plan fall into two sometimes overlapping camps, the multi-laterals, and the partisans. The multi-laterals dislike the Plan because it is mostly bi-lateral, with less than 10% of the dollars going to the multi-lateral agencies they think are more effective. They are deeply suspicious of US motives, and like many in the international community, they want US dollars, but they don't want the US deciding how those dollars should be spent.

The multi-laterals have made additional funding for the Global Fund their primary goal. This Fund however, is new and with commitments of $1.5 billion to date, the Fund has so far distributed only $250 million. There are no doubt good reasons for the slow start but if the measure of success is lives saved, the Global Fund has yet to prove it can get the job done.

The partisans simply want to make sure that Bush gets no political points for his new AIDS Plan. Bush was elected in part because he promised to be a compassionate conservative. The compassionate side of the Bush Presidency had been overshadowed by the war on terror at home and abroad, but with the Africa AIDS initiative, the compassion is back in a big way.

This worries the partisans. So they have been busy developing arguments to discredit Bushs efforts. First they said Bush's Plan was just a public relations ploy. But with the first $2.4 billion having been appropriated, that argument has lost its appeal.

They have had more luck with their other criticism. The partisans have responded to Bush's Plan by proposing to spend even more money faster. They then assert that if Bush really cared he would agree with their spending plan. Their logic goes like this, if $2 billion spent this year will save x lives, then won't $3 billion save more? If we were talking about America, that might be true, but in Africa it is not. For the next few years at least, the major factor limiting treatment in Africa will be the infrastructure to safely deliver drugs to patients, not funding.

The "spend more" argument is difficult to counter, but to the extent facts matter, the Bush Administration has good reason to ask that their intentions be given the benefit of the doubt. Consider this. Bush's proposal to spend $2.1 billion on the global epidemic during the next year is more than the eight-year cumulative total spent by the Clinton Administration. This is not a President unwilling to spend money to save lives.

This World AIDS Day, we should all take a moment to be thankful for the hope Bush's AIDS Plan has brought to millions who suffer from HIV. In the months ahead, while constructive criticism is helpful, the critics should hold their fire and give the Administration some breathing room and support as the Bush Plan is implemented. There will be plenty of time to make corrections as the need arises. In the meantime, there is more reason than ever to be hopeful, and in this epidemic, the arrival of real hope is definitely worth celebrating.