Kenya: Obama a Political Phenomenon

Macharia Munene


Barack Obama , the Democratic Party nominee for US president, is a man of his time. He has proved to be more radical than many whether in the United States or in Africa. His radicalism is in convincing white voters that their lives are safe with him. If they have to have a black, then Obama, both true African and true American, is their black. Obama symbolises demands for radical changes.

His path was well prepared by many people who struggled against great odds in the US and in Africa. First are the angry blacks demanding justice in uncompromising ways that initially tend to send vibrations of fear to the white communities. They include Marcus Garvey, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela, and Kwame Nkrumah. Second are those who make their demands in ways that do not threaten the safety of white power brokers.

Mboya was safe and symbolised the convergence of American Cold War interests and Kenya's anti-colonial aspirations. Americans, among them Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy and King, promoted him and contributed to the 1959 airlift of 81 students among whom was Barack Obama Snr. Obama returned to work for independent Kenya but also left behind an American son, also called Barack Obama. Obama, the son, belongs to America because of his mother and to Africa because of his father. Now poised to become president of the United States, he is a radical political phenomenon.

He appeals to their sense of guilt and reason, gives them chance to prove they are not racist, and promises to deliver them from the global mess they find themselves in. Within him are aspects of DuBois, King and Mboya fusing together strands of radicalism into acceptability by whites. That is more radical than anything before it.

Munene is a professor of history and international relations at USIU.
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Hope all the Obamites don't mind sending their sons and daughters from the sands of Iraq to the jungles of Africa.

Have a good one!:s4: