Even though Pres. Obama prior to his first presidential trip to the African continent may have meant this as an expectation dampening statement, he went on to essentially deride countries in Africa for a long list of prosperity (and prospect of US aid) robbing ills including selfish elitism, corruption and poor governance.
OK, where was that sentiment when he was sending billions of dollars to Wall Street?
Most people with a sense of perspective could recognize the hypocrisy that is rampant in the world’s dealing with countries in Africa. And in Pres. Obama’s defense, he is no different than his predecessors with their "get your house in order" speeches and policies toward Africa mixed in with more than a dose of social engineering.
We turn a blind eye towards our multi-billion dollar corruption scandals while we ignore dealing with the underlying principles affecting institutions across Africa including the fact that Europeans established African countries to fail without European intervention.
It is another clear legacy of the age of national/industrial empire in that we get to decide that our corruption is anecdotal while African corruption is systemic and indicative of collective moral failing. Now that the chastisement is coming from an African-American US president, I guess it’s supposed to have a larger impact.
Corporations are just fine with a lack of democracy in Africa when it comes to access to African resources, in fact, a selfish strong man may be preferred by many. Strong men don’t have the temerity to renegotiate deals on behalf of the living standards of their people like democratically elected officials are sometimes known to do.
The contradiction is clear. While western governments preach, their corporations pay for the maintenance of the status quo.
China gets it. In desperate need for the resources of Africa, the Chinese government (for the benefit of China) doesn’t judge their fellow oligarchs, they embrace them as fellow developing countries working together to gain greater independence from the West as best they can. China was once a colony too.
In the on-going battle for the hearts and minds of the African world, Barack Obama will get an initial hearing as the new face of the West. If his words and deeds continue to reflect the ignorance of his predecessors, Africans may increasingly look to the East.
Here’s the article with the Pres. Obama quote for those who read German --
http://www.fr-online.de/...
Update-Mea Culpa for the misspelling!