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Obama's Star Power Pales Compared to African History
Everywhere he went in Africa, President Barack Obama was competing with history. There was the heroic leadership of former South African President Nelson Mandela, whose deteriorating health has captured the world's attention; the legacy in Africa of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, who created a widely praised program to fight HIV and AIDS on the continent; and never forget the history surrounding Obama himself, America's first black president and the son of a Kenyan man.

Against that backdrop, the initiatives Obama promoted on food security, improved health care and expanded access to electricity appeared to pale in comparison. "I know that millet and maize and fertilizer and arugula doesn't always make for sexy copy," Obama said during an event in Dakar, Senegal, last week. "If the American people knew the kind of work that was being done as a consequence of their generosity and their efforts, I think they'd be really proud."
Is that the half who pay taxes, or should the takers be proud of sending my money there, too?
The president at times seemed to be trying to will the traveling press corps and the American public back home to grasp the importance of the ventures. He took jabs at the U.S. media for only covering poverty or war in Africa and made a rare on-the-record appearance before reporters on Air Force One to give an extra boost to his program for reducing hunger.
Don't you people love him anymore? You tellin' me the thrill is gone?
The president's frustration underscored the challenges he faced during his three-country trip, which wrapped up Tuesday in Tanzania. While his Africa policies have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people on the continent, he lacks a signature initiative like Bush's anti-AIDS program, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. [PEPFAR] But with deep family ties to the continent and inevitable comparisons to Mandela's racial barrier-breaking, the expectations for him among Africans remain exceedingly high.
Yeah. Obama breaking down the barriers. Sure. Dudes with clubs at polling places come to mind.
"Your success is our success. Your failure, whether you like it or not, is our failure," Archbishop Desmond Tutu told Obama during his weekend stop in South Africa.
But it's not racial unless a white dud - or dudette - says that.
Despite his policy differences with Bush, Obama courageously and heroically repeatedly praised the former president's work combating HIV and AIDS, while also reminding audiences that his administration has increased the number of people benefitting from the PEPFAR program. During a news conference in Tanzania, Obama said Bush deserved "enormous credit" for saving lives in Africa and called PEPFAR one of the former president's "crowning achievements."
While also saying Obama made it better.
Obama also announced during the trip an ambitious new venture, dubbed "Power Africa," aimed at doubling access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. In an effort to try to shore up the sustainability of the programs, Obama focused on pressing African leaders to make government reforms and stem corruption.
"Sustainable" usually means "green", or wind-or-solar-powered. My irony meter is twitching...
It's a component of his Africa policy inspired in part by his father, who abandoned his son when he returned to Kenya when Obama was a young child, only to butt heads with higher-ranking government officials over patronage schemes that eventually cost him his job.
My poor irony meter just vaporized.
Posted by: Bobby 2013-07-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=371474