President George W. Bush's Warm African Reception

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Feb. 18, 2008 — -- They love George W. Bush in Tanzania.

Everywhere he goes thousands of people line the streets and cheer.

OK, today there were three young men carrying "Obama 08" signs as the Bush motorcade passed through the town of Arusha, but that is not so many considering Obama's father was born in neighboring Kenya.

And the men seemed very excited to see President Bush in spite of wanting to give the Democratic candidate a shout-out.

In fact there is very little the Tanzanians don't like about the president.

It's a bit like the reception the president received last year when we traveled to the Republican stronghold of Albania.

I am sensing a pattern in the countries Bush chooses to visit.

And why not?

Not only does he have strong approval ratings in the African nations he is visiting, they even seem to welcome surveillance!

I, for one, have learned a lot about surveillance while here.

I always thought those earpieces the Secret Service wore were more a fashion accessory than anything else … or at the very most, a way to talk to one another.

But this is what I read in Dar es Salaam's morning paper The Citizen today, which described the security around the president: "Making a phone call or answering an incoming call wasn't spared as agents monitored any communication taking place by concealed equipment … some displayed sophisticated hear-phones, others wore automatic surveillance or spy glasses with their waists strapped with advanced anti-personnel weapons in case of need."

Don't tell Congress.

It might take even longer to renew that FISA extension.