Everybody loves the Oscars, the biggest and swankiest of all Hollywood events, where the stars come out to play, yada yada yada. And the big buzz at the Oscars always has to do with who the stars are being seen with, and what they are wearing, and what they are saying. Well, here’s a story you might have missed - the day after the awards ceremony in Hollywood, one former Oscar winner was being seen with Barack Obama, neither of them wearing an overcoat, and what they were saying had nothing to do with Hollywood.

Smack dab in the middle of all the post-Oscar hoopla was former Oscar winner George Clooney, not cruising the red carpet and swilling Champagne at the after parties but lobbying Barack Obama at the White House. George has just returned from a trip to the border between Chad and the Sudan in Africa, and he went straight to the White House to try and get the President all juiced up on some bleeding-heart humanitarian peacekeeping mission to the Darfur region.

I’ll admit that Clooney is a very personable, very likeable guy, lacking a lot of the Hollywood pretentiousness that has poisoned the personality of most big stars. But he’s always had a few political hot buttons that he spends a lot of time pushing publicly. And his cause du jour has to do with the refugee situation in the Darfur Region of Africa. And he’s not alone - there appears to be a lot of B and C-list company on that bandwagon, at least judging from the public service ads that are flooding the digital airwaves these days. Seems like every star in Hollywood wants to help every kid in Africa - at least, every kid in Africa who hasn’t already been adopted by Brad and Angelina or Madonna.

In an interview with Larry King, Clooney was asked what he saw on his recent trip to Africa. Clooney said “It was rough. You know, it’s always rough over there. You feel terrible for them. They’re hanging on by a thread. We saw an awful lot of fear. There was [also] a tremendous amount of hope.” Then he went on to talk about how that hope hung on the efforts of the new administration in America to help move things ahead and bring much needed change to the area.

The problem with all this is that Clooney could just as well be talking about Detroit, or New Orleans, or southern California.  Jesus, look around George - you don’t have to go all the way to freakin’ Africa to see some fear and tragedy and people hanging on by a thread. You can find plenty of economic refugees and politically disenfranchised families and starving kids right here in your own country. The only problem is, you won’t get all those interviews with Larry King or Diane Sawyer if you focus your efforts on Middle America rather than Central Africa.

Good intentions or not, somebody needs to take George Clooney aside and quietly tell him he’s barking up the wrong human tragedy. Right now, the last thing America should be doing is flailing around with some heartwarming effort to bring indoor plumbing to Africa while American futures are going down the toilets right here at home.