Obama in Ghana

[alienlovechild 75]

Obama scheduled a 21-hour visit to the West African nation to highlight that country's democratic tradition and engagement with the West. During his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, Obama sought to lift up the continent of his ancestors - while keeping its emotions in check.

But his speech was also pitched as a sobering account of Africa's enduring afflictions: hunger, disease, corruption, ethnic strife and strongman rule.

No big public event was planned - in part for fear it could cause a celebratory stampede, as a 1998 stop by President Bill Clinton almost did.

Obama planned to highlight those successes during a midday speech, urging Africans to embrace a future of accountable leaders and open markets. To ensure a wide audience, the administration organized events for the public to watch video of Obama's speech at embassies and cultural centers across Africa.

But the speech was also a splash of cold water for Africans still nursing grievances over colonial rule.

"For many years we've made excuses about corruption or poor governance, (insisting) this was somehow the consequence of neocolonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism," he told AllAfrica.com last week. "I'm not a believer in excuses."

Those sentiments led Obama to avoid his father's native Kenya for this stop. Tensions in Kenya remain high after a disputed 2007 election and subsequent ethnic bloodshed.

While Michelle Obama's great-great grandfather was a slave in South Carolina, his African origins are not known.

The castle visit mirrored ones paid by Clinton and George W. Bush to the slave-trading post of Goree Island, Senegal - with the added impact of Obama's mixed-race background and history-making election.

In Ghana, too, Obama followed in Clinton's footsteps. In 1998, a surging crowd cheered Clinton in Accra's Independence Square and toppled barricades after his speech. Clinton shouted, "Back up! Back up!", his Secret Service detail clearly frantic.

Bush's reception last year was less tumultuous, but equally warm. At a welcoming banquet, then-President John Kufuor noted huge increases in U.S. development aid and AIDS relief - and named a highway after Bush. Earlier, Bush hosted Kufuor at one of his few White House state dinners.

Obama flew to Ghana after the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, approved a new $20 billion food security plan. It aims to help poor nations in Africa and elsewhere avert mass starvation during the global recession.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090711/D99C7ODG0.html

[My Name Is Nobody 3]

Bush's reception last year was less tumultuous, but equally warm. At a welcoming banquet, then-President John Kufuor noted huge increases in U.S. development aid and AIDS relief - and named a highway after Bush. Earlier, Bush hosted Kufuor at one of his few White House state dinners.

At least some people could see good in the man and acknowlege it

Edited July 11, 2009 by My Name Is Nobody

[SuperDuper! 230]

Bush's reception last year was less tumultuous, but equally warm. At a welcoming banquet, then-President John Kufuor noted huge increases in U.S. development aid and AIDS relief - and named a highway after Bush. Earlier, Bush hosted Kufuor at one of his few White House state dinners.

At least some people could see good in the man and acknowlege it

And at least he is focusing on the right booty now....