Unlike his possible closeted Muslim faith, Barack Obama's deep ties to Africa is no secret. His father is Kenyan (remember the whole white Kansas mother, black Kenyan father thing?), and as a result, the entire continent is just bonkers for the man. He's like practically their son!
So Africa-Expert President Obama thinks he's earned the right to do what no one has done before. Aside from being the first black U.S. president to go to sub-Saharan Africa, Obama is the first to actually know something about the continent other than it's below us and is hotter than a motherf**ker. Which is good news, if you don't mind a bragger.
Because he's so smart and knows everything, Obama also isn't buying the old, tired excuse blaming all woe and misery on the West for basically raping and pillaging an entire continent for the better part of the century.
He thinks it's time for Africa's leaders to "take responsibility and be held accountable" for the performance of their governments, instead of just using their country's economy as a personal ATM, which has unfortunately been the tradition.
"I'd say I'm probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who's occupied my office. And I can give you chapter and verse on why the colonial maps that were drawn helped to spur on conflict, and the terms of trade that were uneven emerging out of colonialism."
"And yet the fact is we're in 2009. The West and the United States has not been responsible for what's happened to Zimbabwe's economy over the last 15 or 20 years. It hasn't been responsible for some of the disastrous policies that we've seen elsewhere in Africa...And I think the people of Africa understand that. The problem is, is that they just haven't always had the opportunities to organize and voice their opinions in ways that create better results."
Getting your hand chopped off so you can't vote tends to do that to a person.
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