Mon Dieu! We can't be outdone by France!

U.S. increases tsunami aid to $350 million
This excerpt of the above story may be the most telling:

France has promised $57 million, Britain has pledged $95 million, Sweden is sending $75.5 million and Spain is offering $68 million, although that pledge is partly in loans.

We were being out-donated by our friends in Britain, those socialists in Sweden and, that favorite foil of the right, France!
Whether they were shamed into it or not doesn't matter so much right now. The US is finally stepping up to be the superpower she is: $350 million.
Now that's more like it!