US Senator Barack Obama, left. planting an African Olive Tree at Uhuru Park Naiorbi, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006, On the right is Nobel Peace laureate, Wangari Maathai. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)
Posted on 08/29/2006 2:15:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NAIROBI, Kenya - During a visit to his father's homeland, Sen. Barack Obama electrified the thousands of Kenyans who thronged every stop of his tour.
Some hoped for promises of largesse, others to bask in the glory of a successful African-American politician, but all wanted to see the man they consider a local kid made good.
"Simply by coming here, he was making a very important statement. He was telling all Kenyans, and especially our youth, that the sky is really the limit," columnist Dominic Odipo wrote in Kenya's oldest newspaper, The Standard.
This despite the fact that Obama never lived in Africa — he was born in Hawaii, where he spent most of his childhood raised by his mother, a white American from Kansas — and he barely knew his father, an economist from the western Kenyan village of Nyangoma-Kogelo.
Among the hundreds who welcomed the senator at the Kisumu airport, off the shores of Lake Victoria, was one man who declared: "Obama is the first Luo-American senator," referring to Obama's father's tribe.
Residents of Nyangoma-Kogelo told local television stations they expected Obama to help them build more classrooms in the local high school — named Sen. Barack Obama Kogelo Secondary School — as well as to build clinics and pave the village's dirt roads.
Kenyans almost universally embraced Obama, who was accompanied by an enormous entourage, burly security guards and caravans of four-wheel drive vehicles.
They cheered as he railed against their country's high-level corruption and injustice.
Officials have even sought to try to use the visit to show how far their country has progressed.
Foreign Affairs Minister Raphael Tuju said the fact Obama could lecture Kenya on corruption and other issues showed how much things had changed.
"We give him police protection, and he makes comments criticizing the government. It is a tribute to the level of freedom we are enjoying. That for me is the greatest achievement" of this trip, Tuju told The Associated Press.
Tuju responded to Obama's statement that corruption was a crisis in Kenya and that the government needed to do more by saying, "We can say we have tried our best, but our best is not good enough."
When Obama made a policy speech at the state-run University of Nairobi, it was aired live on television, something that usually happens only during official celebrations or when President Mwai Kibaki has an important announcement, such as Cabinet changes.
In his speech, Obama touched on themes not normally debated openly in Kenya, such as high-level corruption, the tribal politics that have dominated the country since its 1963 independence from Britain and Kenyans' need to make more demands of their leaders.
"Corruption is not a new problem; it's not just a Kenyan or African problem. It's a human problem," Obama said. "While corruption is a problem we all share, here in Kenya it is a crisis robbing an honest people of the opportunities they have fought for and deserve."
In the past, government officials have reacted angrily to similar statements made by Nairobi-based foreign diplomats.
In policy terms, Kenyans are hoping Obama — the only black U.S. senator — will be a voice for Africa and counter negative perceptions of the continent.
"Here's how Obama can help," the Sunday Nation said in an editorial. "There is an emergent Africa, a more confident, smarter, self-reliant Africa. And it is the message of this new Africa that we would like Sen. Barack Obama to take back home with him: It is possible for Africa to pull itself out of the morass, perhaps not overnight, but certainly in our lifetime."
For the ordinary person, Obama's story of rising from a humble background to a senator in the world's most powerful nation continues to inspire, particularly after his rousing speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
"That one can spring from the green, rolling grasslands of Alego," where Obama's ancestral village is located, "to one of the most important offices in the world ... that, indeed, is a priceless message," columnist Odipo wrote.
"Even if Obama leaves no dollars in his trail, that simple message will be more than sufficient."
US Senator Barack Obama, left. planting an African Olive Tree at Uhuru Park Naiorbi, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006, On the right is Nobel Peace laureate, Wangari Maathai. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)
Again...what has this guy done...other than get elected in a gerrymandered district?
Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate and environmentalist Wangari Mathai (R) speaks after a tree planting ceremony together with U.S. Senator Barack Obama in Nairobi's Uhuru park August 28, 2006. Obama, the son of a Kenyan and a rising star in the Democratic Party is currently visiting four African countries to help spur political and economic development on the continent. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (KENYA)
When was the State of Illinois gerrymandered?
"Again...what has this guy done...other than get elected in a gerrymandered district?"
Not that I'm an Obama fan, but what does a statewide Senate race have to do with gerrymandering?
With USA and Kenyan flag behind him Barack Obama, the only African-American in the US Senate, speaks to students at University of Nairobi, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. Obama urged Kenyans to take control of their country's destiny by opposing corruption and ethnic divisions in government during a policy speech at the main university in his father's homeland. He warned that Kenya and other African nations will never thrive if their citizens cannot count on the government to deliver services fairly, regardless of their tribal background or ability to pay bribes. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim, pool)
How many electoral votes do they have? Or was he there to invite the entire continent to come to Chicago?
Don't worry, they're all registered to vote in Cook Co.
That whole story is ELECTRIFYING!!! I might have to ask for tomorrow off so I can contemplate what his trip means to Americans and our future tax dollars..hmmnnn?? We need someone like him to come on to the scene and raise our taxes for whatever enlightened reason he can come up with.
My thoughts immediately went in this direction. Of course they have relatives here. And, who knows how many "citizens of the world" vote in our elections via absentee ballots and who knows what else.
He's a very enterprising politician in that great Chicago tradition.
It doesn't matter. That he's perceived as local boy done good is enough, hopefully to inspire the younger generation to take charge and make something good of their country. I did like that he used his position and fame to speak bluntly of the Kenyan government's corruption.
I don't like his politics in America of course, but there is a lot about the man to like.
"Obama never lived in Africa-he was born in Hawaii"
What part of that don't these people understand? He is an American, not an African.
To hear Democrats, this guy is the "second coming". He's "local" in Hawaii, Kenya and his home state. While living in Hawaii he attended one of the best and most expensive private schools in the state and led a more than common lifestyle. I'm waiting for his "miracles".
"Even if Obama leaves no dollars in his trail, that simple message will be more than sufficient."Look for a new round of emails from Nigeria saying that Obama did leave money and they want to give it to you.
What do the trips that most of our congresscritters take abroad do for us?
Seems mom had more of an influence on this man than dad did. Is the Senator planning any tree plantings in Kansas?
yep, amazing this "local boy makes good" thing for Kenyans. His dad got his mom pregnant, and had little involvement with his son. Wonderful role models, one and all. Yep, let's give him a hero's welcome.
He has to return to the "homeland" and develop a little hyphenated-American credibility. He's as much white as black but only seems to acknowledge the black half. Of course, that's the half Democrats pretend to care about so it makes sense.
Zero. They should be outlawed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.