Standard – Barack Obama’s Triple HeritagePage 1 of 4
Mazrui on President Barack Obama’s tripleheritage
Published on 07/06/2009
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=1144016241&catid=289&a=1
By Prof Ali MazruiThe 44th President of the United States has a triple ancestral heritage. Obama is descended from Africans, fromMuslims and from mainstream Americans. In the bid to be elected President of the US, Barack Obamaemphasised his affinity with mainstream Americans, and underplayed his African and his Muslim ancestry.There are great expectations of his presidency among Muslims and people of African descent, both within theUnited States and worldwide.
The basis of such expectations have to rely on three kinds of credentials Obama may have. One set ofcredentials on which we would base our expectations are existential credentials concerning Obama’s ownidentity and his personal character and attributes. Obama’s intelligence, his social and political skills and hispersonal style of leadership are, of course, part and parcel of the man.
Also existential is his African and Muslim ancestry. He is the first United States’ president whose father wasborn a Muslim and whose grandfather was, by all accounts, devout in the faith. He is the first President none ofwhose names were either European or Jewish. His first name was based on the Swahili name Baraka(blessing), his second name Hussein is Arabo-Muslim, and his family name Obama is indisputably Luo fromKenya. It is to his credit that he never tried to suppress his middle name Hussein, which was politically the mostrisky in the United States.
He is also the first United States’ President whose childhood education was partly in a Muslim country, indeed,within the most populous Muslim society in the world, Indonesia.Obama’s childhood was also in Hawaii, arguably the most multicultural part of the United States.
Obama probably learnt more about Islam from his Indonesian stepfather (the mother’s second husband) thanfrom his biological Kenyan father.
His school in Indonesia was secular and not a traditional madrasa. But his fellow students were overwhelminglyMuslim, as were indeed the majority of his instructors. He was exposed to Islam in the human composition ofthe school even if not necessarily in the syllabus and the curriculum.
A President in Action
Next to these existential criteria for basing our expectations of the Obama presidency are the credentials ofperformance itself. Within his first one hundred days Obama made no spectacular move to either Africa or BlackAmerica apart from First Lady Michelle’s visits to black schools and to places which help to feed the poor andthe homeless of Washington, DC. Obama had also expressed concern about the crisis of Darfur in the Sudanand tried to have an input in the quest for solving the problem.
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But although his Afro-oriented gestures in his first one hundred days were modest, Obama’s moves towards theMuslim world were more substantial. His first major television interview for foreign audiences was with Arabiyatelevision network addressed to the Arab world. He also addressed the people of Iran on their national day,extending America’s hand of goodwill if Iran would "unclench its own fist" towards America.
For the Arab-Israeli conflict President Obama appointed as his Envoy the former majority leader in the USSenate, George Mitchell, an experienced mediator and negotiator who had successfully mediated the GoodFriday Agreement for Northern Ireland in 1998.
Unlike President Bill Clinton who disproportionately entrusted the Arab-Israeli dispute to American Jews tohandle, Senator George Mitchell has Lebanese, as well as Irish ancestry.
Obama also appointed Richard Holbrook, another very experienced and distinguished mediator, as specialenvoy for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Obama also invited the Presidents of both Afghanistan and Pakistanto join him at the White House early in May 2009 for more fundamental evaluation of their joint policies towardsthe Taliban insurgents in both countries and towards general struggle against Muslim extremists at large.
Although the Government of Israel which came to power early this year was at best lukewarm about a two-statesolution to the Israel-Palestinian problem, the Obama Administration has emphasised to both the Israelis andthe Arabs that a two-state solution is still the policy of the United States. Vice-President Joseph Biden has alsoemphasised that two-state approach to Jewish audiences within the United States.Obama’s policy towards Africa has been less noteworthy than his moves towards the Muslim world. ThePresident may feel inhibited precisely because his father was not only an African but also a citizen of an Africancountry. Obama may be cautious not to betray either racial nepotism or a manifest bias towards Africa. Whenfaced with a dilemma between helping Kenya and helping Bangladesh, Obama may feel compelled to helpBangladesh as a poorer and more deserving supplicant for American aid.
The point has been raised whether Africa on its own would have been better off if Hillary Clinton had beenelected President of the United States instead of Barack Obama.
Global Africa and Global Ummah
Obama’s Africa policy may become more active in a positive sense in the months and years ahead. But on theevidence so far it does seem credible that the African continent itself would have been better off if Hillary Clintonhad become President of the United States.
On the other hand, if we examine the Black world as a whole instead of just the African continent, Obama’selection to the Presidency of the United States has set a remarkable precedent in upward political mobility. TheUnited States is only the first white majority country to have elected a man of colour to its highest office in theland. This American precedent may lead on to the election of a Black Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, aBlack President of France, and even a Black Chancellor of Germany before the end of this twenty-first century.A Somali Prime Minister of Italy in another 50 years is no longer inconceivable. After all, the United States hashad a Luo President sooner than has Kenya, which has a population of several million Luo.
It is also not often realised that Obama is not only the most powerful Black man in world politics today, but themost powerful man of colour in the history of civilization. As we have mentioned before, Obama is morepowerful than the Pharaoh who forced Moses out of Egypt, more powerful than the Ethiopian Emperor whodefeated the Italians in 1896, more powerful than Shaka Zulu who ‘stands out as the greatest of them all and hislegend has captured the imagination of both European and African writers, inspiring novels, biographies, andhistorical studies in several tongues.
When we say Obama is more powerful than Shaka Zulu, Ramses II of Egypt, and Menelik II of Ethiopia, we donot mean Obama is greater than any of them. We do not know yet how great Barack Obama is likely to be.
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What we do know is that he is Commander in Chief of US forces, which are greater than all the African armies inhistory added together. Currently it is estimated that the United States has one thousand (yes, 1000) militarybases overseas
In sheer power, there is therefore no doubt that Barack Obama is in a class by himself among Black leaders inthe history of civilisation. But what about Obama’s impact upon African Americans?
Black voters in the United States voted for Obama in percentages of over 90 per cent — after some hesitation inthe early stages of his primary campaign for the presidency. But in the course of his first 100 days there wassome Black disenchantment because Obama was perceived as being in denial about the importance of suchAfrican American concerns as affirmative action and reparations for past injustices. At African American publicmeetings to grade Obama’s performance during those 100 days, some graded him as low as C-. Others gavehim an Incomplete.
But in fairness to President Obama some of his most important policies were bound to benefit millions of AfricanAmericans, although the policies were not specifically focused on African Americans. His aspiration to makehealth service as affordable and universal as possible was bound to benefit hundreds of thousands of uninsuredAfrican Americans. His plan to try and make college education more affordable was also bound to benefitgenerations of young Blacks if Obama succeeded. Indeed, many of these policies were likely to yield greaterbenefits to African Americans than even affirmative action — which in the past had often benefited more whitewomen than Black men.
With regard to health policies affecting the African continent, Obama has a tough act to follow when comparedwith George W Bush. President Bush persuaded Congress to allocate billions of dollars to combat HIV-Aids inAfrica and the Caribbean countries.Bush’s strategy against HIV-AIids abroad was arguably his most enlightened policy, though his accompanyingcondition of sexual abstinence was naive and often honoured more in the breach than the observance.
Religion and Voting Behaviour
In our analysis we have now transitioned from Obama’s credentials of performance to his credentials of pledges.The pursuit of affordable health and affordable education are pledges in the process of implementation. Also apledge in the process of implementation is Obama’s campaign promise of giving a tax cut of some kind to about90 per cent of the working population. Again beneficiaries of this pledge are bound to include millions of AfricanAmericans, as well as some of the six million Muslims who are United States’ citizens.
In the campaign of 2008 neither the Republicans nor the Democrats courted the Muslim vote overtly. On thecontrary, the Obama campaign was sensitive to the erroneous charge that he was a closet Muslim. Muslimswere particularly offended when Obama’s organisers removed Muslim women wearing the hijab from proximityto Barack Obama at a rally when a lot of cameras were targeting the candidate.
Muslims also complained that although Obama was prepared to be seen at Christian and Jewish places ofworship, he very carefully avoided visiting a mosque during the campaign. After all, even President George W.Bush had visited a mosque.
Muslim defenders of Barack Obama felt that the choice before Muslim voters was between a Muslim-friendlycandidate Barack Obama and a future Muslim-friendly President Obama in the White House. The Muslim voterscould not have both.
Obama had to avoid playing the Muslim card when he was campaigning. But with the first 100 days asPresident, Obama was saying that he had Muslim relatives. He had also raised the issue of US relations withthe Muslim world to a high level of urgency.
He had pledged to end the war in Iraq. He had pledged to support the creation of a sovereign Palestinian statealongside Israel. He had pledged to combine military action in Afghanistan and Pakistan with considerable
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Prof. Ali Mazrui - Barack Obama's Triple Heritage
This is an edited version of a paper presented by Prof Ali Mazrui and other professors at a seminar at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Washington DC, on April 17.
The article discusses Barack Obama,… (More)
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