That’s right – that familiar goofy face is back from oblivion, calling for aid for Haiti alongside Bill Clinton.

Just when you were beginning to forget about him – Bush is back! But not as the President-inept. This time around, he’s been cast as the benevolent former President, back to help out and use his “status” for the benefit of humanity.

Kind of like Clinton’s makeover: once the champion of globalization, now he’s fighting the good fight against climate change and for humanitarian causes.

For Bush, the makeover might not be so easy. Perhaps that’s why Clinton is on hand, to make it more believable. The two former presidents are working together to bring relief to Haiti. It’s called the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Apparently, it was Obama’s idea.

The unlikely pair showed up on five different talk shows yesterday to call for donations.

My heart goes out to the people of Haiti. I can’t help but be moved by the destruction and misery they’ve experienced, before and after the earthquake.

But someone has to say it: Is W. really the right man for the job? Really? The guy who presided over the total collapse and subsequent corporate looting of Iraq, as well as the destruction in Afghanistan? The guy whose total obstructionism on climate change may soon result in several Pacific islands ceasing to exist. And have we already forgotten about Bush’s handling of that other Caribbean natural disaster – Hurricane Katrina?

Bush also, by the way, decided to cut off desperately needed aid to Haiti after taking office in 2001, and presided over the coup that removed democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power in 2004. Bush the father backed the first coup that removed Aristide from power in 1991.

(Clinton’s record on Haiti is not much better. Although he restored Aristide to power in 1994, during his term in office Haiti was crippled by IMF structural adjustment policies. It was in part because of these policies, which undermined the market for domestic agricultural products, that so many rural Haitians were forced to move to slums in cities like Port-au-Prince. There, they built the precarious shacks that were no match for last week’s earthquake.)

Amidst the rubble, stench and desperation, Haitians can still be seen waving pictures of Aristide on CNN. “These two leaders send an unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and the world,” says Obama. Just what sort of message are Haitians, reduced to desperation yet still fiercely independent, supposed to get?

During the height of his frightening rule, a friend of mine remarked that Bush would eventually be reincarnated as a good guy after he left office. Perhaps as an environmentalist, he speculated.

Well, Bush is back, and it’s indeed for a good cause. Let’s just hope he has really returned to help.