Here is an article from Tanzania, another of the three African countries President Obama is due visit on his to upcoming trip to the continent, from June 30 to July 3. Given the fringe controversy over President Obama’s origins, it is particularly interesting, and touches on the tribal undercurrents in African life, which is something people outside the region are hardly aware about, let alone discuss.
The issue of why President Obama is not stopping in his father’s native Kenya is reverberating on air waves and news pages across the continent. For Tanzania’s The Citizen, columnist Mobhare Matinyi thinks he knows the answer: Barack Obama is behaving like any self-respecting Kenyan of the Luo tribe would behave as president of the United States.
Here is some of that:
“Choices have consequences.” Weeks before Kenya’s general election in March, those were the words of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. These words, extremely unpleasant to hear for a sovereign nation, were meant to warn Kenyans against allowing Uhuru Kenyatta and his fellow inductee, William Ruto, to become president and vice president, respectively. Note my use of the word “allowing” – not “electing.” Apart from untold other issues, the duo faces charges at the International Criminal Court related to post-election violence in 2007-2008.
In fact, for those who have closely followed Obama, especially those who know a lot about the Luo people, the American president clearly displays the traits of a Luo man, such as rock-solid self confidence and a bit of arrogance. One could simply call it a swaggering attitude. That means being witty, oratorically talented, dressed smartly all the time, somehow aloof, and with a preference for fish on his dinner table. Is this stereotyping? Yes! Sometimes it works! In any case, biologically, half of everything in Obama must be from his father’s side.
So has he snubbed his ancestral home? Not at all! He is simply being an American president! Unlike African presidents who spend a good deal of money, time and energy making themselves and their families and friends happy, an American president is seriously answerable to his people, and he can be punished either politically or legally if things go south.
Thus, for Obama to plan a visit to Africa, “his homeland,” he had to take into account a lot of issues, which is why some of us weren’t surprised that he avoided concentrating on the African continent during his first term. He played it smart, otherwise his foes, the Republicans, conservative Americans, and underground racists, would have created lots of trouble for his re-election.
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