Barack Obama’s Much Anticipated Trip to Africa

Barack Obama isn’t African. Yet, no other American president has up to now personified the pride and the hope of a revival of the black continent. “Welcome noble son of Africa! Welcome home!” proclaimed a sportscaster on Ghanian television, where Obama is to give a speech on Africa on July 11th.

His ascension and following election have probably not incited such a degree of enthusiasm on any other continent. As a departure from the distrust of the black, and thus of the African, the triumph of Senator Obama had also been perceived as a symbol of an immense democratic hope for African itself. It’s the idea that an unknown politician without major ties can, to general surprise, actually be chosen by the voters; something that would rarely occur in any African countries.

Transparent, free, the American election resonated like a global rehabilitation operation for blacks from Dakar to Nairobi, and like a wakeup call for an often eroded self-confidence. While the continent now currently lives through takeovers, presidents for life and ethnic wars, the wind from America is the carrier of democratic audacity and political openness. In this respect, the choice of Ghana, which had in December its second peaceful transition in eight years, is clear. Mr. Obama has opted for this small western African country as a singular stage in Africa. Ghana was chosen over Kenya, the native country of his father, where the last election gave way to a bloody ethnic conflict; and Nigeria, where corruption transforms the petroleum godsend into a curse.

Corruption, tribalism; Senator Obama had precisely selected these themes for the vigorous speech that he gave in August 2006 at the University of Nairobi (Kenya). In revealing himself as “your friend, your ally, your brother,” the future president pointed out “Kenya’s inability to equip itself with a transparent and viable government” and named corruption as one of the “great struggles of our time.” He brought up the idea that Africa’s delayed progress is not simply the result of colonialization… but that there may be some blame “rooted in the bankrupt idea that the goal of politics or business is to funnel as much of the pie as possible to one’s family, tribe or circle, with little regard for the public good.” This was a message that no white western politician would dare give. But Africans certainly accept, or even approve, of hearing it from the mouth of their new American hero.

Beyond words, it remains to be seen what the American president will do with the immense show of sympathy that he arouses in Africa, and from that capacity can use to expound on the embarrassing truths for a multitude of governments.

It’s there where the widely perceived, wrongfully ambiguous character takes hold: “Obama the African.” Because if the family history of the president allows him to better understand and maybe more clearly hear the complexity of African culture than any of his predecessors, Mr. Obama is before all a pure product of America. In his book “Dreams from my Father” (Presses de a Cite, 2008), he revealed that he never felt more American than when returning from his first trip to Kenya, in the footsteps of his father.

His worry to not appear specifically as the president of black Americans should lead him to a grand caution and a certain continuity in the matter of African politics. Especially since the black continent was probably where his predecessor, George W. Bush, revealed himself to be the least unpopular, strengthening the budgets for the battle against Aids and creating a vast aid program tied to good governance. In contrast, the Africa policy of Democrat Bill Clinton, who failing in Somalia, long denied the Rwandan genocide and pretended to promote new virtuous leaders who revealed themselves to be tyrants, hardly left many shining memories.

Today, while the United States faces two wars and an economic crisis, Africa doesn’t appear to be a priority of the White House at all, and the budget for aid has little chance of being reevaluated. After all, the black continent only represents 2% of foreign American commerce, and since the end of the Cold War, Africa is no longer a strategic continent. The first acts of Mr. Obama seems to indicate that, inclined to trusting the UN, he could leave it to intervene in Darfur and Congo-Kinshasa in the East.

Nevertheless, Africa is as the heart of two central issues for Americans: the training grounds for Islamic terrorism (Sahara, Somalia); and the contributor of as much as 20% of the petroleum consumed in the United States. The programs of American military instruction spent in the resident countries of the Sahara and the good relations with the producers of black gold will continue to figure among the priorities. In a context where China is positioned as an alternate to the West, without any consideration of democracy, the rulers of the continent could show themselves to be less receptive to the pressures of the American president, in spite of his “African” image.

[Editor’s note: some quotes may be worded based on translated material].