Why Hillary should go to White House (plus DFU email to this member of the Uganda parliament)

THE 2008 presidential race in America is a major test for democracy in that country. If he scoops it, Barack Hussein Obama will be the first black president. Likewise, Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the first woman president. Both options are history making.

If the mid-term elections where the Democrats attained majority in Congress are to be a precursor to the presidential elections, then Democrats stand a chance to regain the White House.

I’m an ardent advocate of Pan-Africanism and the total empowerment of the black race and I believe if Obama became President the US, policy on Africa will be better (of course this is debatable because regardless of who is in the White House, they do not consider friends but permanent interests.)

Being a black and a woman, I have opted for the latter for whether Black, Asian or Arab, women face the same social, political, economic and physiological challenges. I believe that given her experience on women and children issues, Hillary’s tenancy at the White House will not only be a success for Democrats or Americans but the entire global women’s movement. I believe she will survive for a number of reasons:

When she lost in the Iowa caucuses, she remained steadfast and indeed embarrassed the media when their polls giving Obama a 13 point lead in New Hampshire only served to prove that they (media) were out of touch with the New Hampshirites who rejected their coronation of Obama.

Despite facing a strong opponent in the 46-year-old and silver-tongued Obama, who has undisputable oratory power equal to that of great American icons like J.F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, it is too early to count her down and out until February 5, 2008.

Secondly, against all odds, Hillary made history by being the first ever First Lady to seek elective office as Senator of New York, in a state where she did not have roots.

Even if she lost in South Carolina and Nevada during the primaries, she will not be the first: her husband Bill Clinton lost in New Hampshire, South Dakota, Maryland, Colorado, and Maine before winning any state. Since 1972, four of the nine Democratic nominees lost in Iowa, including Reagan in 1980.

Bill tells Hillary’s story much more than she does. When he talks about his wife’s aspirations to become President, he represents a smart and compassionate Hillary, who may seem cold to some people but Bill melts that chillness and his comments about Obama’s candidature as the biggest’ fairy-tale’ he has ever seen did not help the Kenyan American either.

Obama, the rock-star candidate who has been enjoying a honey moon with the media, is yet to test the Clintons’ machinery. Anyone who knows the Clintons knows never to underestimate their tenacity and endurance.

Additionally, Hillary’s rise to power, unsettling as it is, follows a time tested pattern for the breaking of gender barriers.

I strongly believe that she is the only candidate with the depth, skill and ability to lead the US and shape the world agenda. Whereas Obama is so good in the conventional speeches, when it comes to debates he is peevish. But in the presidential debates I have watched, the experience and compassion of Hillary completely surpasses all the other candidates, including on the Republican side.

If what happened in New Hampshire is to serve as a precursor, then Obama is in for a tough ride, unlike in Iowa, women in New Hampshire voted for one of their own. I was stunned when I learnt that the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the leading civil rights activists, has on this issue disagreed with his wife; whereas he is supporting Obama, the wife is strongly canvassing votes for Hillary yet both are black.

Secondly in New Hampshire, the majority of the registered Democrats voted for Hillary and many independents were for Obama. It should, however, be noted that continued reliance on Independents may not propel him further since some states only allow registered Democrats to vote in party primaries.

It is only a political amateur who can count Hillary out of the race because going by the dynamics of the party’s nomination process in the National Convention, the Democratic National Committee has allotted states a total of 796 super delegates to the convention which comprises members of Congress and other elected officials, who are free to support any candidate regardless of the outcomes of the primaries and caucuses. Many of them are undecided but among the decided, before the Iowa caucuses, Clinton was leading with 160, Obama 59 and Edwards 32.

After Iowa, Hillary had 175, Obama 75 and Edwards 46. So after New Hampshire, your guess is as good as mine but as of January 12, Hillary had a National lead of 49% compared to Obama’s 36% and 12% for Edwards. Hillary is helped by Edwards’s continued viability in the race for it splits the anti-Hillary vote.

If the first viable woman presidential candidate in America wins, the women’s movement will have made a milestone. However, Obama’s freshness and rock-star status, an unusual political appeal, and the recent endorsement by former DP nominee John Kerry poses a great challenge to the Clintons.

Will America go for the first black president or the first woman president? We wait to see who between America and Kenya, will be the first to have a Luo president. The world is keenly watching whether they practice what they preach.

Translation: If Obama became president of the US, we would enter an era of neocolonialism for Africa in which American black power ideas would be touted in Africa in Tribal societies which have no established systems of democracy.

Result: genocide and bloodshed, the usual result of neocolonialism. And Obama's political friends in Africa would line their personal pockets with US aide money.

Obama would be like the British Rajs of the past, but with a different suit of clothes. At least that is what he has shown us in Kenya.

Translation: If Obama became president of the US, we would enter an era of new aid for Africa in which American taxpayers would send us billions and billions in new foreign aid, which like the billions before would purchase no goodwill, but would instead line the pockets of corrupt politicians such as myself and enable me to live in luxury somewhere outside of that cesspool.

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