True, the jubilation that has greeted President Bush in Africa is an impressive sight. But as one notes by reading this op-ed article from today’s edition of the Ghanaian Chronicle, not all Africans welcome him as a Great White God. Samuel Okudzeto Ablawa writes, ‘The gullible may believe this PR stunt – but not the majority of people around the world … who will take to the streets in wild jubilation the day President Bush steps down, not only as President of America, but as tormentor-in-chief of our world.’ In regard to the U.S. elections, Ablawa goes on,’Aside from the low approval ratings he suffers in America, the current political season in his country has emphasized one important point – the farther your policies and philosophies are from Bush, the better are your chances.’
By Samuel Okudzeto Ablawa*
February 19, 2008 Ghana – Ghanaian Chronicle – Original Article (English)
As President Bush of the United States of America arrives in Ghana on Tuesday in his on-going tour of Africa, it’s important for the Ghanaian people to be told the pure and simple truth.
Contrary to the propaganda from the White House, their embassy in Accra and their surrogates in the Osu Castle – that President Bush is here as the benevolent father who cares about us and to show concern for malaria, HIV/Aids and his Millennium Challenge Account – all of these are but a smoke screen. Another interesting angle pushed in President Kufuor’s State of the Nation address last week was that President Bush’s intention to visit is a manifestation of how well we are doing as a country.
Even the reasons coming from White House and Osu Castle officialdom have begun to laughably contradict themselves. If President Bush is coming here to check up on malaria and HIV/Aids interventions, then how can these officials tell us in the same breath that President Bush is here as proof of how well we are doing? Funny, isn’t it? But you see, when I was a little child it was my mum who told me that I should never take to lying, because when you tell one lie you must tell several lies to cover your tracks – and that soon leaves you miserably exposed. First of all, our people must be told that America’s foreign policy is and has always been this – “permanent interests and no permanent friends.” Before President Bush’s visit to Africa was endorsed by those really in charge of the American system, they would have had to convince themselves beyond doubt that it was is their interests for him to go. President Bush is here for our oil, nothing more nothing less!
At this very moment, President Bush is the singular most unpopular American citizen – both in the world and in his own country. Aside from the low approval ratings he suffers in America, the current political season in his country has emphasized one important point – the farther your policies and philosophies are from Bush, the better are your chances. This is why even in Bush’s Republican Party, the two remaining aspirants have distanced themselves from him. As for the Democratic Party nomination, both aspirants preach change, and it has been observed that because Barrack Obama represents a more sincere change because he voted against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is why he is doing better than Hillary Clinton.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing African coverage of President Bush’s trip
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