The President’s trip to Africa may be one of the most anticipated events for that “Dark Continent.” In a telling and candid essay back in January, Kenyan journalist Njoroge Wachai called for Obama not to come with alms, but with an iron fist (or message in the case of the President) for the dictators and petty bosses that run virtually everything on the continent.
And that is exactly what Obama came with. Instead of the rebuke that Peter Lee feels Obama gave his homeland, the truth is that Obama gave exactly what that collection of despotic regimes needs to hear: reform or face indefinite servitude under your own despots and the Chinese carpetbaggers and Western oil giants Lee describes in his essay.
Along with calling for more aid, Obama used his first-hand knowledge of how things are really done in Africa to give them the straight talk they need to hear. In Lee’s essay, he discusses the increasing power and influence of the Chinese in Africa. But the truth is also much more complex there. I lived in China for many years and I know that Chinese are very prejudiced against Africans. There is no altruistic union between the Third World and the Communists as Mao envisioned. No, the real deal is Chinese carpet baggers are surging across China’s borders en masse to set up corrupt and exploitative shop from Vietnam to Pakistan to Zimbabwe.
Chinese businessmen and Western businessmen do not have the plight of Africans as a priority. So Obama’s message of self-help and anti-corruption is really what is needed, (along with a bit of aid). And that is actually Obama’s role throughout the world. He himself will not be able to change the world or reverse Wall Street’s excesses or give jobs back to the unemployed of America. Obama is an inspirational leader and that is why he was elected. To inspire. In fact, his slogan should be, “Obama made me do it.”
Here in the US, his speeches and proclamations should resonate and create a desire from within to save more, re-train the workforce and focus on a new future. How is this any different from his role and motives in Africa? The message he gave there is universal and if successful, might actually produce the change he campaigned on. But the only way his message can succeed is if it is received and acted on, both here in America where we need to re-evaluate how we do things and what we focus on and in Africa, where they need to do much much more.
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