|
|
Uganda: The Emergence of Barack Obama, Part II
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN
7 March 2008
Posted to the web 7 March 2008
Timothy Kalyegira
As we did last week, we must ask once again: what explains the ecstatic support for Senator Barack Obama across America and among whites, as we know whites? How can whites suddenly no longer care if their president is a Black, given their 200-year history?
Emory Wheel, the newspaper of Emory University in the United States noted two weeks ago that, "[Opinion pollster] Frank Luntz asked college students at a recent focus group to name the candidate they were going to vote for.
All of them said Obama, but when Luntz followed up by asking them to name a single accomplishment of the senator, they couldn't name one." (Emory Wheel, February 18, 2008)
Where is this unquestioning, outpouring enthusiasm among whites coming from?
As a rule, when one sees a leading Black figure or head of state become a darling of the West and whites (Mandela, Museveni, Kagame, and now Obama) we must ask the suspicious question: why? Black leaders who clearly stand up for Black interests or frighten Whites (Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Louis Farrakhan) are always, without exception, portrayed as monsters by the western media.
A glimpse into the world Obama must live in and hope to one day lead can be seen in how he deals with the questions of his identity.
Obama's late father was a Muslim and he was raised in Indonesia by a Muslim stepfather. News profiles of Senator Obama are careful to emphasise that he is a Christian and that his Indonesian stepfather was a non-practising Muslim.
Two weeks ago, when a photograph of Obama dressed in traditional Somali wear was sent to the Drudge Report website, the Obama campaign officials were furious, describing the distribution of the photograph as a smear effort by the Clinton campaign team.
The question is: Why should a photo of Obama dressed up as a Somali (or as a Muslim) be viewed as negative for his election chances, unless we must admit that the United States is still deeply prejudiced toward Muslims and Arabs - and Africans? How can the White Americans love Obama this much, but not his father's faith, African heritage, and traditional dress?
While meeting Jewish groups, Obama, well aware that although the Jews are only two percent of the American population, they dominate and control a quarter of the media, finance, entertainment, and the sciences, sought to identify with Jews, pointing out that his name Barack in Hebrew means peace.
It shows us the other dishonest side to Obama that most of us Africans and Black Americans don't see in our current enthusiasm, a man who would rather graft himself onto the Jewish world via his name than visit a mosque and celebrate his Islamic roots. The world of Obama is summed up by a Caribbean-born Black British commentator, wearily familiar with the price that a Black public figure must pay to rise to the top in the white Western world, and he is not overly excited by the prospect of Obama becoming US president.
Writing in the March 2008 edition of the magazine Prospect, Trevor Phillips observes: "Obama is a kind of Greek tragedy in the making. The very thing that makes him the first person of his kind has 'bound' him to failure: if he fulfils the hopes of whites, he must disappoint blacks--and vice versa...
For the black underclass and beyond, Obama may be the latest messiah, but there is anecdotal evidence that where blacks have prospered to the extent that they are grimly competing for jobs and property with whites, they don't buy 'Obamania.'...This] is because the people who actually experience just how far America remains from post-racial harmony are those blacks who work with whites..." Perhaps because of having read too many books on the activities and history of the CIA, I remain suspicious even of the recent string of Obama primary victories.
How does Obama win 12 consecutive states, mainly populated by rural whites who are typically lukewarm toward Blacks, then suddenly he is unable to sustain the momentum when it comes to Texas and Ohio, two states whose racial composition is identical to the 12 he easily won weeks before?
How come Obama won 12 consecutive states but they were all states with a small delegate count, while Hilary Clinton won all the heavy population, industrial states except for Obama's state of Illinois: California, New York, Florida, Texas, Ohio?
Might there be a conspiracy to quietly tamper with the primary results and give Obama the appearance of victory, well knowing this is in small states, in order to demonstrate that America is no longer racist?
|
As understandable is the great hope Black Americans and we Africans have vested in Obama, real hope will only come when we have a Black world leader who acts on our terms, not the White world's.
It is very disconcerting to me to see this quote from the article, "Might there be a conspiracy to quietly tamper with the primary results and give Obama the appearance of victory, well knowing this is in small states, in order to demonstrate that America is no longer racist?" When things don't work out the way someone thinks they should, the default position for most Ugandans is to jump into conspiracy thinking. I AM from one of those small states and the enthusiam for Obama is incredible. I also would like someone to explain to me what this... [Read Full Text]
I agree that many in the U.S. continue to move toward acceptance based on character and not color or race. That is not to say Obama's presidency has or will somehow get rid of racism and prejudice int his country, however his message is one that goes beyond race, gender, color and so on and that is one of the reasons for his success. In addition, he is real, authentic, compassionate, honest, hard-working, intelligent, brilliant, firm in his beliefs and unwavering. Most importantly, he doesn't limit himself to any one group and why should he? I have been volunteering... [Read Full Text]
Basically I reject the consipiracy theory in the Obama phenomenon! One needs (i)to analyse the identity of Obama beyond the colour of his skin, (ii)look at what has happened in the USA especially among the youth since the days of Martin Luther King, and (iii) probably advise the black youth of the USA to use education to fully liberate themselves instead of passing time playing the victims! Obama does not belong to blacks. He belongs to humans. Obama in terms of socio-politico-economic class structure of USA at this time is any Havard educated successful lawyer /politician/American citizen (black or white)... [Read Full Text]
The Americans' heart hurts from orders given by the President of the United States to go to war. Therefore, Senator Barack Obama, commendable audacity, to become the next President of these United States, brings joy and hope to every American. I support the Obama candidacy 100%.
PhD Candidate
Obama is running for the president of the U.S.A. that would mean he has to have the interest of the U.S.A. first as a whole that would be Black, White, Latino, Asian… And just in case you over looked it let me remind you that his mother is “White American” the term “white American” is no more correct than Black American. So think you for your comments but from one very mixed race American (European and Native American) to all who read this The U.S.A. is a nation ruled mainly by “whites that have mixed heritage from different European countries... [Read Full Text]
Thats a major problem with our world today. Whites think they are so much better then anyone else. People get a clue times have change. I'm white & very PROUD to vote for Obama.
I'm a 62 year old white male, and I'll tell you why I've not only already voted for, but am working hard to get Senator Obama the nomination of the Democratic Party.
Five words: Judgment, Wisdom, Ethics, Inspiration, Values.
I'm a retired veteran of 25+ years of duty to my country. And thus I support and admire the men and women who are currently serving their country in Iraq, albeit in a conflict that I view as ill-advised, unwarranted, and perhaps illegal and clearly an overall disaster. So did, then Illinois State Senator Obama. He did so... [Read Full Text]
I am white and know why I admire Obama.And why maybe lots of others. Obama represents both white and black.. Not only that... I admire his viewpoint.... positive thinking... wanting to change and knowing it comes for the bottom up to the top...not the top ..down... he blieves in buildinga strong foundation... not only that he gives hope for us all telling us that it is not the ones at the top that makes a country strong. ....it is building the infrastructure ... and it is now time for us younger nes to make a change. We have respectively... [Read Full Text]
First of all here are some facts that need mentioning: Obama is 1/2 black (father) and 1/2 white (mother) which many African Americans aren't. Granted his father is Kenyan African but he hardly knew him and he was raised by his white maternal grandparents from Kansas, even though he stayed in Indonesia briefly before age 10. In that respect he is a Kansan rather than a Kenyan.
In the recent weeks we had comments from the right wing Canadian government (Canadas PM, Harper is a Bush poodle)leaking information about a conversation their governement official had with the Obama staffer, the... [Read Full Text]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
