President Obama Delivers Tough Love, Pledges Partnership in Ghana
Cites Ties to Continent on First Trip to Sub-Saharan Africa as President
The message was a more public version of the story that he shared privately with African leaders at the G8 summit in L'Aquila on Friday.
In a meeting on Friday with the leaders of Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Libya and Ethiopia, Obama spoke about his personal connections to both Africa and poverty, and challenged the leaders to set priorities for combating poverty and hunger. According to a top White House aide, "You could have heard a pin drop."
Deputy National Security Adviser Michael Froman told reporters the president wanted to make it clear to the African leaders that problems "that Africans face weren't just a product of colonialism or past history. ... This wasn't a time to make excuses. And that it was important to join together in a clear-eyed way."
Obama Team to Africa: Follow Ghana's Example
The president said today that he had come to Ghana, his final stop on a six-day trip, after international summits in Italy and Russia, "for a simple reason: The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well."
Aides said the goal of the trip was to send a message to Africans to follow Ghana's example of democracy and good governance, and to the larger world that Africa is not just a place of warfare, disease and famine.
In their first-ever meeting this morning, President Obama praised Ghanaian President John Atta as "a democratic leader who did it the right way," praising the "institutions that are sustaining democracy and openness and transparency," and adding that, "we think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent."
Obama said he wanted to make the stop here in West Africa after he completed the G-8 summit and his meetings in Moscow as a way to "emphasize that Africa is not separate from world affairs."
"There's been a tendency for U.S. presidents to take a week sometimes during their term and there is a separate trip to Africa," he said. "And we wanted to send a message that we have a continuing interest on the security, on the economy and the social, political development because we live in an interrelated world and what happens here has an impact everywhere."
The White House chose Ghana over other African nations, including Kenya, where Obama's father came from, to showcase a successful African democracy.
Obama's mention of Kenya in his address today as being "badly outpaced" capped a week of pointed criticism at the country's leadership; criticism many Kenyans agree with.
In local television analysis, Kenyan political analyst Kwamchetsi Makokha called the speech "a lecture" for African leaders. He said Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki should have been "squirming in his seat" listening to the speech because Obama "basically berated the Kenyan leadership."
"If you're a Kenyan and you listened to the part of the speech where he spoke about democracy, and then he also spoke about opportunity, and when spoke about conflicts and peaceful resolution of disputes, you would be cringing at every opportunity," said Makokha. "On each of those counts our administration is guilty."
The scene outside the Mills and Obama meeting at the presidential castle was one of enthusiasm and celebration. Every living past president of Ghana and hundreds of Ghanaians in colorful garb cheered as a song, "Barack Obama" by the reggae group Blakk Rasta, blared.
"Barack, Barack, Barack Obama," went the song's refrain, with interesting stanzas such as "As you keep the fire burning, black president" and "judgment will come with Barack for legalizing unnecessary abortions in Africa."
The second track on the CD after "Barack Obama" is called "Cocaine in the Palace."
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