Allan Tacca writes:
If my memory is correct, the only time I have written about US President Barack Obama was in January this year, when I observed (among other things) that Obama is the first U.S. leader - and that there may be no other one for a hundred years - to be free from the racial baggage that prevents white Western leaders from confronting their African counterparts with more forceful moral authority.
In simple terms, the descendants of slave owners, imperialists and brutal colonialists could always be reminded of that history and intimidated into silence whenever they tried to "teach" democracy and good governance to Africa's despots.
But Obama presents special difficulties to Africa's tough guys. He can say that he has enough African blood not to entertain that old racial crap. And they need no reminder that he has enough communication skills to meet any rhetorical challenge from the continent. And yet, paradoxically, their biggest headache may turn out to be Obama's responsibility to the very identity of blackness.
continue reading at the link: allAfrica.com: Africa: Obama's Blackness Unsettles Despots (Page 1 of 1)
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