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Kenyan’s Shall be in for a shock, The Obama – Raila ( ODM ) Similarities

         This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

OBAMA-MANIA COMES TO KENYA

He is the nation's golden boy from Web chat rooms to Kenyan saloons

        By Edwin  Okong’o

"Obama, ni wetu! Obama, ni wetu!" the Kenyan fans at San Diego's Petco Park chanted, stamping their feet, blowing horns, dancing and waving their national flag.

Americans in the stadium last month undoubtedly saw this as just another of the "war songs" the rowdy Kenyans sing at the U.S.A Sevens Rugby Tournament every year, a rare moment when the two countries compete on the international level. They were right, but this was no ordinary war song. Far more enthusiastic, it hit closer to home. The Americans might be winning the match, but "Obama," the Kenyans were shouting, Sen. Barack Obama, "is ours."

Kenyans just love the guy.

To get an idea of how much, just go to NyanzaProvince , where (like me) Obama's father was born. In Kisumu, its main city, you'll find the Obama Hotel. Not a hotel actually -- that's what we call restaurants, even a roach-coach-style diner like this one on the shores of Lake Victoria. Nyanzans have renamed at least one primary school and a high school in Obama's honor. In Kenyan bars, you can already order warm or cold Obama Beer, a brew that used to be named "Senator" long before he became one. But Obama-mania is hardly confined to Kenyans in Kenya .

He is the golden boy of the modest Kenyan diaspora. Hardly a single gathering of Kenyans here in America -- and there are, by now, tens of thousands of us in this country -- ends without at least a mention of him.

His name is gold in Kenyan online chat rooms. "He would ask the U.S. Senate to pass a bill which would wipe (out) crime and unemployment in Nairobi ," a Kenyan wrote enthusiastically in 2004. Another suggested that the government of Kenya -- that cash-strapped country with 50 percent unemployment and a $7 billion international debt -- donate to Obama's campaign so that, of course, he could return the favor many times over when he won his senatorial seat. The commentary has been fast and furious ever since.

When, in December 2006, a man posted an online message claiming the recent carjacking and killing of a leading Kenyan professor was an effort by the government to ethnically cleanse the Luos -- Obama's father's tribe -- he made sure he copied the senator. The message was an indirect call to Obama: Stand up against the persecution of your tribe.

More than two years after he was sworn in as a senator, Obama hasn't exactly taken Kenya's increasingly impoverished capital, Nairobi, back to the days when it was known as the "City in the Sun," but nothing he hasn't done can dampen our expectations, not now that he is a presidential candidate.

Ordinary Kenyans are not the only ones who see Obama as a messiah. Kenyan politicians are already using his popularity as political capital. Raila Odinga, a Luo opposition leader and one of the top contenders for the 2007 Kenyan presidential elections, tried to portray Obama's 2006 trip to Kenya as a personal endorsement. His supporters have created T-shirts and posters with cleverly computer-altered images that show Obama and Odinga standing side by side, arms around each other. This, too, has gotten some Kenyans excited.

"In 2009, we might see a Luo president in Kenya , a Luo president in the USA , and a Luo ambassador in Washington , D.C. -- current ambassador Ogego," one Kenyan suggested recently on Africa Op-Ed, an online forum. "If there was time you had to learn Luo, it's now," he added. Such a possibility is imagined as potential salvation for a tribe that has been marginalized -- politically and economically -- since independence more than 40 years ago.

The belief that a future President Obama will arrive from America -- as if from heaven -- to end our miseries stems from the way we Kenyans have been trained to view our leaders. When Jomo Kenyatta became the independent country's first president in 1963, he filled government jobs with people from his Kikuyu tribe. Kenyatta also poured more development funds into the infrastructure of his home area near Mount Kenya than any other region in the country.

When Daniel arap Moi took over after Kenyatta's death 16 years later, he channeled the funds to the part of the Rift Valley he comes from. Moi is said to have built roads in places where people did not own cars. Kenyans used to joke that, while the busiest highways were eroding away, the ones to Moi's hometown were so deserted that people dried grain on them.

It is this promise of prosperity that many Kenyans see in Obama -- especially those from Nyangoma Kogelo, his poverty-stricken ancestral home region that has never boasted of a native son holding the presidency.

Many poorly educated Kenyans have little or no understanding of the workings of the American government. They think that, if elected president, Obama would rule by decree, that if he tells Americans he wants to lift the land of his father out of poverty, he will be given a blank check to do so.

So desperate are we that we have not even bothered to ask if Obama has the will to lobby for us. Before his visit last year to his father's homeland, he said Kenyans would be disappointed if they expected him to arrive with "a suitcase full of help." While speaking to a crowd of students at the University of Nairobi, he insisted that Kenyans should not depend on foreigners to solve their social and economic problems. "The hard truth is that nations, by and large, will act in their self-interest and if Kenya does not act, it will fall behind," he said.

Some Kenyans are so electrified by the fame of this son of our homeland that they fail to ask if he even has the obligation to do anything for us. At the very least, some typically assume that he would donate part of his presidential salary to develop the village where his grandmother still lives. After all, isn't he a Kenyan and don't all Kenyan immigrants in America send money home?

After examining Obama's record, I would like to offer a modest dissent from the majority views of my countrymen and women. I won't go so far as to question his blackness, as many in the United States have, but I will say that he is not a Kenyan. He is in fact one of the very foreigners he urged us not to depend on.

I search and search but can't find anything Kenyan about him. He doesn't even hold a Kenyan passport because Kenya does not allow dual citizenship. He does not speak any Kenyan language, and when he graduated from HarvardLaw School, he headed not for Nyangoma Kogelo, but for Chicago to do grassroots organizing and practice civil rights law. He has said repeatedly that his loyalty is to the people of Illinois . In Nairobi , he asked Kenyans to share information to make it easier for "your brothers and sisters out in the villages to evaluate if they are being treated fairly." My brothers and sisters, not Obama's.

I look and look but can't find one thing Obama has done, in his capacity as a senator, for Kenya 's children. Nor do I see President Obama doing a thing that would lift poor Kenyans out of the shanties of Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums with a destitute population of nearly a million people. He can, of course, continue to assail the Kenyan government for its corruption and tribalism, as he did on his visit last year, but -- let me assure you -- that won't change a thing.

Obama can't even offer Kenyans inspiration. He lacks his father's priceless story: of a childhood in a poor village in western Kenya, of a boy who played soccer with a ball made of rags and plastic bags, walked to school -- most likely barefoot -- and rose from there to attend Harvard. The odds of Obama returning to Kenya to serve as his father did are slimmer than those of spotting the tooth fairy.

What Obama does offer us Kenyans is something to brag about. In most of our tribes, a child belongs to the father. At a recent gathering at my uncle's home in Hayward, a friend of his told me that, although Obama did not know his father well (a fact the senator acknowledges), our traditions are bound to outweigh those of the Americans, hence, in his mind, and he is indisputably a son of Kenya.

To such hardliners, that Obama doesn't possess any legal documents saying he is Kenyan is immaterial. He is, as those rugby fans chanted, still ours, and if he wins the White House in 2008, our countryman would be ruling the most powerful nation in the world. For my bragging rights and pride, I'm willing to agree. Economically, however, Obama's future presidency will be -- at best -- insignificant for Kenyans.

Edwin Okong'o is a student at UC Berkeley's GraduateSchool of Journalism. He would vote for Obama if he could, but would not expect a thing from him. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com .

The following articles should be a warning and a classic example to alert the Kenyans, particularly the brothers from Nyanza-The Luo Community.

What all of us should be aware of is that there is racism-live and thriving in America When it comes to us, Black people verses the Caucasians, we shall have a great task to overcome.

At the moment, there is debate taking place in America, a misadvised-Senator Barack Obama supporter, thought that, perhaps by posting anti Hilary sentiments over the You Tube on Line , they would be enhancing Obama’s Chances of Nomination as the Democratic presidential flag bearer in the coming U.S.A Elections.

The act though it may seem normal, it has a far reaching consequences. It has badly backfired on Obama! What we should be aware of, before being carried away is our situation. It will be a long way before America Picks a black Man to be their president. Senator Obama’s problem is compounded by the fact that he is a son of Kenyan Peasant-African. When it comes to serious choices the working of American systems are such that they have to pick one of their own!

Recently, there have been wild rumours about Obama being one of the Muslim Brotherhood members when he was in Indonesia, with his Mother, who had then remarried to a Muslim Indonesian man. Indonesia is the most populous Islamic Nation. It is sad that Obama had to arrive at such a bad timing, where to be a Moslem in America is akin to terrorist! an enemy of Americans, according to George W. Bush! How unfortunate for Obama. A little bit of allegation, no matter how false it is, is taken as the truth in the current climate in U.S. An unfortunate for the son of Nyangoma – Kogelo.

What is even sad is that the supporters of Senator Obama went ahead and posted such stupid attacks about Hillary. Hillary is white, and the White America knows her better and can trust her more than us. A fact which is an open secret.

When you see what is taking place between the Kalonzo – Raila factions; hacking Musyoka’s web site and childish articles about Kalonzo’s alleged witchcraft, you can see a pattern emerging. Namely uniformed individuals who in the act of desperation to show their support for their candidates, they end up doing more great deal of damage to their candidates than if they had kept reticent!

What is even sadder is that each time a Luo, is about to achieve greater things, for a country, he is sabotaged by their own people in cahoots, with detractors. An in doing so, the whole nation is robbed of advancement, and great leaders.

Even when glaring examples such as the case of James Orengo - instead of pragmatism, he let his ego to keep him out of lime light and cold for the 5 years. Yet he was the one who should have enjoyed the most after the removal of the KANU regime of Moi. In Germany, Gerhard Schroeder lost because of greed. And even here in Canada, Prime minister Martin lost, because of greed and bride, rather than compromising, he opted for elections and what a lesson!

Can Kalonzo and Raila ask themselves this question; are we better with inept tribalized regime with a deranged first Lady, whose behaviour beckons an asylum? Would they be happy after the election day and Kibaki wins a minority government? And for the simple reason that they were too egoistic to put the interest of Kenya above that of their personal ambitions!

How could we forgive ourselves if we help Kibaki to win presidency, because we can not see the common goal-the good of the nation! How would Kenya forgive, if we let the deranged women-Lucy to continue to attack our freedoms and blatantly order the arrest of any one who is brave to say how inept Her Husband’s administration is! Kalonzo and Raila ought to settle their differences, if they want to change Kenya. Demanding the release of Lucy’s detainees will not cut. If they want things done, they better make sure they deliver the presidency to Kenyans. They have the presidency, but they seem to be desperately pushing it out to Kibaki.

The supporters too must realize that, only a united opposition, Kalonzo and Raila together, shall bring Kenya out of the abyss and out of Lucy’s mental disorder.  

Look at this articles, it should serve as a warning to all those who want Raila or Kalonzo to be President of Kenya. What you write can derail your candidate’s ambitions.

A classic Obama – Hillary lessons

From the ; NewsMax.com Staff

For the story behind the story...

Thursday, March 22, 2007 1:01 p.m. EDT

Zogby: Hillary Benefits From '1984' Ad

Two-thirds of likely Democratic primary voters who had viewed the "Hillary 1984” video now sweeping across the Internet and the American political landscape said it will not change their opinions of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, a new Zogby Interactive video survey shows.

But the remaining one-third of likely primary voters were three times more likely to favor Clinton over Obama after seeing the video , the survey shows. Of those polled, 21 percent said they were either " offended” or "bothered” by the video, and that it made them more likely to support Clinton as a result . Just 7 percent said they were either "entertained” or "excited” by the video and were, as a result, more likely to support Obama’s run for the nomination.

Respondents viewed the 74-second video, which was embedded inside the Zogby Interactive survey, before answering questions. The survey, conducted March 19-21, 2007, included 1,805 respondents overall and carries a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. The survey includes a subset of 796 likely Democratic primary voters, which carries a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points.

The parody video is a take–off on an Apple Computer ad based on George Orwell’s novel, "1984." It depicts Hillary Clinton as a "Big Sister” speaking to "zombies”, and was designed to puncture the notion that Clinton, who has held substantial leads in national public opinion polls in the race for her party’s nomination, is the inevitable nominee and that everyone must fall into line behind her campaign.

Asked whether they were entertained by the video, a narrow plurality of 44 percent of likely Democratic primary voters agreed, while 40 percent said it was not entertaining.

While 34 percent of likely voting Democrats said it was a " mean-spirited attack on the Clintons ,” another 19 percent said it was an "insightful commentary on an effort by the Clintons to dominate the Democratic Party presidential nomination process.”

Other respondents said the ad was confusing or not very creative. Some complained that such attacks should be saved for the 2008 general election campaign against Republicans. A small percentage of Obama  supporters (11 percent) said they were offended by the "Hillary 1984” video and were, as a result, more likely to support Clinton instead.

© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.

:                                     

2008 Presidential Race
Barack Obama
Sen. Hillary Clinton

Ruttoh  Pollyzzarrioh / Canada, March 25^Th. 2007

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