Disagree as they may, critics of Gov. Haley Barbour’s failure to support a tourist boycott of Aruba cannot accuse the governor of playing politics with the issue.

The politically popular choice would have been for Barbour to join three fellow Southern governors in the boycott call, which was prompted by the Dutch territory’s inept investigation into the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. Barbour’s opposition, as stated to this newspaper’s Editorial Board recently, was a matter of principle: He disagrees philosophically with boycotts.



We respect the governor’s position, even as we empathize with the belief of Natalee’s family, including her father, Dave, that a boycott will nudge Aruban authorities to step up their investigation.

Dave Holloway, a respected Meridian businessman, has been a picture of dignity and strength since his daughter disappeared eight months ago. He was an early skeptic of the boycott strategy who came to embrace it after seemingly every other approach had failed. We can’t begin to comprehend the anguish and helplessness he must feel as each day passes without answers about Natalee’s whereabouts.

Barbour’s mistake was not his opposition to the boycott but the way he’s handled it. The governor should have returned Dave Holloway’s phone call seeking support for the boycott. Instead, Barbour refused for weeks to say anything – to the family or to the public – about the request. He finally addressed the question when our Editorial Board asked him, and Dave Holloway learned of the governor’s position from a reporter. That’s poor form on the part of the governor.

Still, Barbour’s opposition to the boycott is well-reasoned. In the Holloway case, the beef is with the government, not with the private sector. It’s unfair – and ineffective – to punish innocent merchants when the culprits are the government and its agents.

It speaks volumes that the U.S. State Department has declined to endorse the boycott. Even if Barbour were to sign on, the actions of a few Southern states are unlikely to get Aruban leaders’ attention.