Obama’s African Hubris
By Larry Johnson on January 31, 2008 at 10:57 AM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs
I suppose it is too much to ask of Obama supporters to read the following material and appreciate the arrogance and ignorance displayed by Senator Barack Obama, but folks, it appears he is going to do for Africa what George Bush has done for Iraq. Only worse. He is taking sides in a tribal war in Kenya that is on the verge of becoming a Rwanda-like genocide.
Really? Let’s start with this uncomfortable fact. The leader of the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader, Raila Odinga, is Barack Obama’s cousin. Barack may not put much stock in the relationship, but tribal allegiances are still strong in Kenya and Barack is clearly viewed as a Luo by his fellow tribesmen. Robert Ethan reported recently that:
Barack Obama has had a major impact on the recent disputed Kenyan election. He spoke in support of Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader Raila Odinga when in Kenya in 2006. The two men met last fall when Odinga visited America as each was preparing an “insurgency” campaign in their respective countries. In a recent BBC interview, Raila Odinga, averred that he and Obama were “old friends who spoke often on the telephone”. Odinga also said that he and Obama were cousins, a claim that the Obama campaign was unwilling to acknowledge, (given Odinga’s current difficulties) but did not deny.
Great. Obama’s cousin wants to be president. Is there a familial gene? If you are like most Americans you are blissfully unaware that two of Kenya’s tribes–the Luo and Kikuyu–are killing each other over a disputed election that Odinga, Obama’s cousin, claims was stolen from him. This dispute has been accompanied by violence:
A mob torched a church where hundreds had sought refuge Tuesday, and witnesses said dozens of people — including children — were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes in ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s disputed election.
The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275, raising fears of further unrest in what has been one of Africa’s most stable democracies. . . .
President Mwai Kibaki, who was swiftly inaugurated for a second term Sunday after a vote that critics said was rigged, called for a meeting with his political opponents — a significant softening of tone for a man who rarely speaks to the press and who vowed to crack down on rioters.
But opposition candidate Raila Odinga refused, saying he would meet Kibaki only “if he announces that he was not elected.” Odinga accused the government of stoking the chaos, telling The Associated Press in an interview that Kibaki’s administration “is guilty, directly, of genocide.”
Obama is not responsible for the killings in Kenya. But he has shown shocking naivete in supporting his cousin, who in turn has been quite eager to exploit the familial/tribal tie with Obama. Worse, members of Obama’s foreign policy team have helped fan the flames of this mess. How? Are you sitting down? They got Dick Morris involved in the election.
Former
Clinton aides currently working for Obama were the “mutual acquaintances” who directed Dick Morris toKenya to advise the Odinga campaign in November of 2007, shortly after Odinga visited with Obama inAmerica . Morris was an extremely divisive factor in the Kenyan elections, as a foreigner, a white man, and the creator of an antagonistic “have vs. have nots” campaign platform for Odinga’s ODM. He also suggested the current campaign of civil disobedience to protest the election result, including a “Million Person March”, a la Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.When things got out of hand following the election, Obama called Odinga repeatedly, but Mwai Kibaki, the leader of the Government would not return his calls as he perceives Obama to be biased toward his Luo relative Odinga in the conflict. Obama is featured prominently in ODM campaign posters, slogans, and songs in
Kenya , and the plaintive phrase “A Luo will become President inAmerica before a Luo will become President inKenya ” is often heard.
Obama also is providing the Republicans with the equivalent of an ammunition dump for destroying his candidacy should he become the nominee. The following articles are a preview of shit storm that will be unleashed on Obama.
But even in this atmosphere Obama stands out – for not only does he theoretically support appeasement, he is actively advancing the interests of Islamists seeking to take control over a state allied with the
US .
Kenya currently teeters at the edge of political chaos and civil war in the wake of the disputed Dec. 27 presidential elections. Those elections pitted incumbent President Mwai Kibaki against Raila Odinga who leads the Orange Democratic Movement. While the polls showed the public favoring Odinga, Kibaki was declared the winner. Odinga rejected the results and his supporters have gone on rampages throughout the country that have killed some 700 people so far. Fifty people were murdered when a pro-Odinga mob set ablaze a church in which they were hiding.Kibaki is close ally of the
US in the war against Islamic terror. In stark contrast, Odinga is an ally of Islamic extremists. On August 29 Odinga wrote a letter toKenya ‘s pro-jihadist National Muslim Leaders Forum. There he pledged that if elected he would establish Sharia courts throughout the country; enact Islamic dress codes for women; ban alcohol and pork; indoctrinate schoolchildren in the tenets of Islam; ban Christian missionary activities, and dismiss the police commissioner, “Who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists.”
Who is behind these massacres? The opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has had a good press in the West, after he accused the president, Mwai Kibaki, of rigging the election. But the victims of the recent violence have mostly been members of Mr. Kibaki’s tribe, the Kikuyu, while those who have gone berserk are supporters of Mr. Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, which is dominated by the rival Luo tribe.
Whether Mr. Odinga has ordered his men to commit murder and arson is unclear. But his own background does not exactly suggest enthusiasm for democracy and the rule of law. Mr. Odinga’s father, Oginga Odinga, led the Communist opposition during the Cold War and Raila Odinga was educated in Communist East Germany.
I can see the headline now, Obama’s Commie Uncle. Democrats banking on Obama to bring a new Camelot to Washington need to pause and ask some tough questions. Their refusal to ask Obama about his familial ties in Kenya, about his foreign policy inexperience, and about his meddling in the Kenyan election, will eventually come up.
There may be an innocent explanation for all of this. But sticking one’s head in the sand and hoping these uncomfortable issues go away is not a strategy for victory in November.
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