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Kenya Welcomes Barack Obama
Barack Obama was greeted with cheers and adulation this past weekend, in an emotion-filled and historic visit to his ancestral home of Kenya as the first African-American President of the United States.
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The experience was exceptionally moving for the president and first lady, in Mr. Obama’s first official visit to the homeland of his African father. Mr. Obama’s half-sister, Auma Obama, met him at the airport and Kenyans actively clamored for his attention, anxiously seeking any and every opportunity to see, talk with, or touch the man they consider a native son.
When the Marine One presidential helicopter touched down at Kenyatta University, thousands of students lined the streets, waving, cheering, taking photographs and even wearing T-shirts with messages welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Obama. Then the official motorcade left the campus, passing thousands more waiting along the road.
At Safaricom Indoor Arena, where he delivered a speech to 4,500 people, the crowd chanted, “Obama! Obama! Obama!” while the public address system played a song with the refrain, “I’m coming home.”
President Obama began his remarks by speaking a few words in Swahili. “Habari Zenu!” he called out to the crowd, meaning, “How are you?” The crowd went wild!
Earlier in his visit, President Obama implored Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to rethink his country’s record on gay rights. Many Kenyan leaders had encouraged Mr. Obama not to discuss gay rights on his first trip to the country as President, but he was unwilling to pass up such a rare opportunity.
“When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode,” Mr. Obama said during a joint press conference with the Kenyan leader in Nairobi on Friday. “And bad things happen.”
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Since Kenyan law considers sexual activity between men as illegal and punishable with a maximum imprisonment of 14 years, Mr. Obama equated such legalized discrimination of gays to legalized racism in America.
“And when a government gets in a habit of people treating people differently, those habits can spread,” Mr. Obama said. “As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law.”
President Kenyatta listened respectfully, but disagreed.
“The fact of the matter is Kenya and the U.S. share so many values: common love for democracy, entrepreneurship, value for families — these are some things that we share,” Kenyatta said. “But there are some things that we must admit we don’t share. Our culture, our societies don’t accept.”
“It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept,” Kenyatta continued. “This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today the (gay rights issue) is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas.”
Mr. Obama’s last visit to Kenya was as a U.S. senator in 2006. With his time in the Oval Office winding down, the president said he plans to return after leaving the White House.
“Once I’m a private citizen, I’ll have more freedom to reconnect.”
The president added that when he returns to Kenya, he wants to work on issues affecting the poor and to just stroll down the streets of the capital of Nairobi, as he did as a young man.
“Part of the challenge that I’ve had during the course of my presidency is that given the demands of the job and the bubble, I can’t come here and just go upcountry and visit for a week and meet everybody,” Mr. Obama said. “I’m more restricted, ironically, as President of the United States than I will be as a private citizen in terms of some of the hands-on direct help I want to do, partly because of schedule and partly because of making sure that in my relationship to Kenya, I’m understood to be operating as the President of the United States.”
I caught a bit of his visit in real time while it was happening and I agree with DJ, it was very moving.
Also, unless I'm mistaken(?) …he's making a historical vist to Ethiopia as well. today.
What I find so uplifting about the President these days is that he obviously has no plans to just tread water until the end of his Presidency. Nope. He's feeling *it* now…the wind at his back….and finally being FREE to truly continue working in meaningful ways to get stuff done that he feels will be good for Our country in the long, and short, run.
As the end of his Presidency slowly draws closer one thing is clear, he has NO intentions of being a "lame duck" President.