where is the law that requires as the US president that he should be looking after Africa? Third world countries, specially parts of africa has gotten so lazy that they just wait for the aid to come. I'm from a third world country myself, but we don't go complaining how america is not looking out for us. america is not the only country with brains. you should remember how they started off. they cleared the jungle too. we have fully functional brains too. use them! he is the president of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. not the whole world. if he can improve his country then he is a great president. if he helps other countries that's just a bonus. ppl stop expecting other countries to come bail you out. just because they're a superpower and u r a third world country doesn't mean they should spend all their resources helping you. america is not all that either. they got domestic problems too. don't forget that. and it's not america's fault if u have a tyrant for a leader. go elect someone else then. stop blaming others for ur own faults. it's time you grow up.

I am an American and an avid Barrack Obama supporter. I think you failed to recognize the significance of Obama's accomplishments - the number of Senators that support him as well as the unique campaign he ran during the primaries. He took the Clintons by surprise, and it took all three of them (Bill, Hillary and Chelsea) to get Hillary's campaign back into the race.

Oh, bother. What's wrong with this man or any of those that think that we celebrate Obama just because we are waiting for handouts. Frankly, I would celebrate Obama's nomination even if he was a staunch Republican who voted for the war in Iraq. To Africans the matter is simple. For centuries now we have been told that we are an inferior race and that we don't have what it takes to accomplish anything. lately that message has been echoed by brainwashed Africans. Can you imagine the message that is being sent by Obama's nomination today? Can you? Show me a greater force that will imprint itself on the African mind today or yesterday?None. A step for Obama into the while house will be a giant leap for Blacks all over the world.

As an American Christian who has been to Uganda several times and have hosted Ugandans in America I need to point out that Obama is very pro- homoseaul and abortion rights. Claiming tobe a Christian ( I can not judge a man's heart but see no evidence of a transforming salvation experience) his solutions trust in big government and not in God. America's greatest has always been in limited government.

While he has a fascinating life story (I have listened to his biography on audio)a little research reveals strong connections with know communists in his background. While I myself had a socialist background growing up when I became a Christian my politics changed accordingly. I don't see that change in Barack even though he is very bright and articulate.

Whether Mr. Barack OBama becomes president of the U.S. or not, one thing all Blacks, globally, should remember is that a Black person can do almost anything if they put their mind to it. Mr. Obama should not be viewed as the salvation of the Black people, because we are intelligent enough to be our own slavation, but rather as an inspiration to the perserverance and dedication to the character of Black people. As oppressed and suppressed as Blacks have been both abroad and in the U.S. there is no true defining of us as intellectually inferior, we are able to rise from obstacles that are meant to deter and derail our success and turn us against one another. Now we have a chance to rally 'round one another in the hopes of showing the world a united stance WE ARE A FORCE TO RECOKEN WITH... I'm not saying Obama is going to solve Africa's problems or even the problems of Black Americans right here in America, but imagine how much easier it will be for Black citizens of the world to have a sense of worth, a feeling that that if that Black in a country that was built by the enslavement of Blacks can rise so high up the political ladder, so can I... it might not mean much to adults but to the children who are our future it will speak volumns, let them forever feel like they are our greatest hope and inspiration...

I'm an American currently living in Europe who stumbled across this article. I appreciate hearing an African opinion on these important events in my country.

However, the tone of this article is highly cynical. I don't believe the best mentality is that of lowered expectations and preparation for disappointment. When so many lives today are marked with hardships and difficulties, when we have suffered under the stupidity of GW Bush for 7 years, it is often very difficult to find anything for which we can feel hope and excitement. After so many years of dread and fear when looking toward the future, why should we be hesitant to feel the opposite?

It has been a long time since so many of my countrymen were so excited and moved by a presidential election. It has also been a long time since the world felt the possibilities of an American candidate. Why not dream? Why not hope? Why not consider the possibilities of the future, rather than always fearing for the worst?

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I am sorry the phenomenal event that has taken place in America has escaped you, I truly am. I am sorry that you cannot appreciate that an African American has a legitimate chance for the white house when less than 40 ago there were millions fighting and dying for just the opportunity for African Americans to achieve respect and fundamental human rights. I am sorry that you cannot appreciate that for the first time since Kennedy the youth are excited about a candidate and are putting themselves into the political process. I am shocked that as a journalist you can honestly say "they don't really have a history of turning out" when the youth of this country have been a back bone to this man's campaign. As a youth who knocked on doors and worked for hours for this man because I am so inspired and believe so strongly in his candidacy I take offense to that and challenge you that the youth WILL turn out in record numbers once again. Instead of seeing the glass as half empty why not look around and just realize how incredible it is that for once in a very long time and AMERICAN presidential hopeful can bring unity to the world once again. As an American I am so tired of being enemy number one! You say he wont do anything for Ugandans or for the situation in Darfur How do you know!? He was one of the FIRST U.S. government officers to even speak out against the tragedy in Darfur. Africans have every right to be proud and hopeful for this man a true Progressive Democrat probably the first since Kennedy. I regret that you cannot feel the same hope as your brothers and sisters around the world but as an American teenager who has been inspired by a politician for the first time in my life, this is not delirium we're having, this is true, 100% unfiltered HOPE and it isn't going anywhere!!!

It's always amazing to me what people think during an election year, how they grasp on any hope that Obama or Mc Cain may promise, or how bad the last president was so let's vote for a change, whether it be going from rep. to dem. or dem. to rep. People need to face facts, a person running for office, first, has to decide what issues the MAJORITY of people want to hear about, then come up with a plan that the majority of people would approve. The sad part of this if this is, if not done this way and the person tells the truth as to what should or will be done they can't get elected. Example gas prices, we all know this country doesn't have an energy policy and if were told we use more gas than any other country and until we all change and use about half of the oil we use now or do away with gas engines then shut up and quit complaining about high gases. Whow, that would be one person could go back to there day job. So it's just a fact, a politician has to say what the majority wants to hear, be able to raise more money than any of the average person could ever imagine, and we the people have to cross our fingers and hope we are voting for the right person. If any politician was able to deliver on 90% of the promises they make we the American people would be paying about 75% of our money to Uncle Sam to run these programs that are promised. So people pick the person you think will do the best job and vote realizing nothing in Washington is ever done without concessions to people to get there vote on Bills that are passed which end up costing us twice as much as it should. I have voted in every election for 40 years and for you young people I sincerely hope you can come up with something that will change the way Washington works. Would be nice if when person is running for office and makes all the promises they make, find out what date these promises will be made then if they don't do them, kick them out of office with no retirement benefits, boy that would be interesting. Remember all the changes we were promises the last election by the Dem. then all the changes we were promises before that from the rep., amazing how nothing gets done once they get in office and as long as we have a two party system were one side doesn't want the other side to look good nothing will ever change only get worst. They always talk about working together then when President gets up before the house and makes his little speech one side cheers everything he saids while the other side sits and doesn't support anything he saids. This is not just with Bush during the years regardless of whether rep or Dem. it has gotten worst' which to me is embarrassing to see. Yes I will continue to vote but at same time realize nothing will get done because politicians can't make the other party look too good then they can't get reelected, so again young people, you are the ones that has the biggest stake in this then come up with a plan and do something about it, and four years from now if the person you voted for has really messed things up, you need another plan. remember Nancy from San Francisco at the promises what's happened? Vote, but don't expect too much. Thank you

It's Not About Barack Obama Changing Africa. It's about Africa changing America. What you guys should learn from this is that being African is no excuse for mal-performance. The sooner America and Europe cut all free aid to Africa the better. Work hard and build you own nations!

It's Not About Barack Obama Changing Africa. It's about Africa changing America. What you guys should learn from this is that being African is no excuse for mal-performance. The sooner America and Europe cut all free aid to Africa the better. Work hard and build you own nations!

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Actually you are half right. It is both: it is about Africa changing America, and America changing Africa. People are tired of old excuses: colonialism/racism/imperialism. The original author of this article is typically as uninspirational as the pessimism that passes for leadership in Africa. Maybe Africa lacks inspiration to "reach for the stars"; Africa also needs big dreamers instead of petty tin pot tribal dictators. The last thing Africa needs is what was written by this pessimistic author; it could be sour grapes or just old fashion colonial metality.

Yes, history has it that no black American, or African American has gone this far in the country's presidential race. History also has it that the youth, where Obama has greater support has a low turn-out on voting. "Change we can believe in" is set to "defile" the history. lets us only wait as this phenomenal event unfolds.

Interesting article, although it's one that's been rehashed ad nauseum. As an African-American and Obama supporter I'm not looking to Obama as a "saviour" in any sense of the word. Things are not going to change that drastically in the US,Uganda or anyplace else in the world. It just makes me feel good to see a man who looks like me on the road to the White House. Does anyone think that there would be any degree of change if Billary had won the nomination? Don't delude yourselves.

Obama in November 2008!

Obama represents a moral victory and psychological boost for a lot of black people, beyond that, he is gonna be president of the fading empire and if he doesn't play the game the empire wants him to play he will be removed [by the ballot or the bullet. see JFK, MLK, RFK, Fred Hampton, Medgar Evers et cetera]

Obama will propably do little for Africa. He is an American, first and foremost. Obama is for the Americans looking for change for themselves. The situation in Africa has to change also, especially if America apologizes for the enslavement and deportation of Africans to the New World. Today, Africa is poor because millions of Africans were carried away to build the Americas, usually through capture and brutal force.

May be if Obama becomes president and apologizes on behalf of America for the plunder of Africa, will there then be some reparations paid to Africa to uplift Africans from poverty that was imposed on them, first through slavery, then colonialism.

As is now evident, the descendants of the plunderers of Africa truly want to avoid any reparations and just tell Africa that after all one of your sons is a senator, or presidential candidate. This is not enough for Africa or Africans who continue to face a lot of prejudice because their darker colour is associated with slavery, servitude, inferiority, etc.

Recently, I read an article in the Kenyan Daily Nation, in which a writer, probably not of African descent, wrote that when Obama was in Kenya talking to some Kenyan children, "one of them hooted like a monkeny." When will all this prejudice towards Africans end? Probably, we have to look at the future election of Obama, as Africans first, then weigh the significance of his election. Is it a plus for Africans at all? Will Africans ever get respect and acceptance as human beings all over the world?

Tribalism is racism's sister cousin. What Obama's win would to do is to eliminate this social scourge and curse and relegate it to the dustbin of human history. Obama is of both Kenyan Luo father and White mother parentage. Besides showing that America has made major strides in terms of combating racial divisions it would also teach Africa a lesson or two about tribalism and tribal divisions, especially in as far as its penchant for tribally based politics. The corruption in African politics that everybody likes to talk about essentially runs along tribal lines and is driven and fueled by primordial tribal passions. If it wasn't for tribalism there probably wouldn't that much rampant corruption in African politics and government. Obama's win would be a blow to both racism and tribalism, and a defeat for American racists and African tribalists.