Senator Barack Obama went to Africa, to Kenya the home of his father's family, and basically flipped the bird at Bush's AIDS policy in Africa.
And it is so refreshing to see an American arrive somewhere actually able to speak the language, unlike our Sec. of State.
more below the fold...
Tens of thousands of Kenyans lined the streets of Kisumu on Saturday, giving U.S. Sen. Barack Obama a hero's welcome as he arrived to visit the nearby village where his late father and grandfather lived.
Massive crowds screamed "Obama, Obama" and waved flags emblazoned with his name and face, as the 45-year-old junior senator from Illinois rode through the streets in a truck flanked by a lengthy convoy.
"I greet you all," he shouted in the local language, Luo, waving. "I just want to say very quickly that I am so proud to come back home," Obama told them, according to The Associated Press. "It means a lot to me that the people of my father, my grandfather, are here in such huge crowds."
He greeted his grandmother, who still lives there, and gave her the gifts he had brought.
He was the man of the hour, and got the kind of greeting George Bush can only dream of. No one is going to be proud of Bush for his accomplishments..not even his parents.
He also made a point of publicly, if subtly, repudiating the "abstinence" policy that Bush has imposed on the AIDS help for Africa.
Obama and his wife Michelle used the spotlight to encourage Africans to get tested for AIDS, an action that carries a deep social stigma in Africa. In front of crowds, the couple had their blood drawn at a U.S.-run testing center.
"I and my wife are personally taking HIV tests. And if someone all the way from America can come and do that, then you have no excuse," he announced.
Among Kenya's 32 million people, some 1.2 million were infected with HIV as of 2004, according to AP. Some 700 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses, and in the Kisumu area, nearly one in five is infected, AP reported.
"If you know your status, you can prevent illness," AP quoted Obama as saying. "You can avoid passing it to your children and your wives."
The
story goes on to talk about the welcome and his visit with his grandmother, who is obviously very proud of him.
Finally, a politician who is trying to address the problem of AIDS in Africa without putting a political or religious spin on it!!! And an American politician who is not afraid to mention his "foreign" roots. Good for him, I say!! And more power to him, hopefully in the Senate!!