Tuesday was when this continent came to a standstill. Everyone left what he or she was doing to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the greatest nation on earth. With a few exceptions, everyone watched the huge jamboree.
Initially, I had planned to boycott the whole thing. I am a man who sticks to his guns even when the chips are down. As you are aware during the race for presidency, I was a McCain supporter. I had good reasons for supporting him. Unlike the whole lot of you, I was not going to support Obama simply because he is alleged to be black.
And, certainly, I was not going to support Obama because his father, who by the way abandoned him at the age of two, was African. As we know the vast majority of Africans supported Obama simply for this connection. I am not that frivolous. I did not go to school for many years only to support someone because of their skin colour.
Also I was not so sure about Obama because with every person on this continent supporting him, it was going to be difficult for some of us to get into America. You see, a lot of this sentimental support was based on the expectation that the moment Obama won, the borders would be flung open and every African and their granny and nephew would be allowed into America.
Where would that have left us, the few in the third world who have stood with America through thick and thin? We who have had to stomach insults aimed at this great nation and its equally great leaders.
I therefore wanted a man who would appreciate America’s friends in the third world. Since it appeared there were only a few of us supporting McCain, entry into America would have been so easy. With Obama we would have to join throngs of people who have for years been frothing at the mouth and insulting the very country to which they secretly yearned to move.
That said, I am glad I watched the inauguration. I mean there is no question the Obama fella is smart. He is also very literate in the way he uses words. Before Tuesday, I had the sense that the soaring rhetoric did not always carry much substance. Not anymore. Not after Tuesday. As the ceremony progressed, I felt myself warming up to the man. By the end, I was a convert. He had won me over. Obama had bowled me over. I now consider myself an ardent supporter.
First of all, Obama won me over by making sure no rap singers performed at his inauguration. The way rappers were behaving after the elections, I had resigned myself to sagging trousers, oversized shirts, bling jewellery and obscene lyrics assaulting the ears of the distinguished guests. By not inviting them, Obama showed that he is a serious man who understands the job of leading America cannot be mixed with irresponsible singers who consider obscene language and bad manners the ultimate art form. I suspect the rappers are sulking somewhere. Good riddance!
If they want to perform at the next inauguration they will have to clean up their act. But more than anything else I was converted to Obama because of the manner in which he ignored Africa and Africans.
As I said, the whole of Africa was at a standstill on Tuesday. Throughout the campaign season, every African was claiming Obama as ours. Children were called Obama. Beers were named Obama. There was even a tee shirt written “Obama my homeboy”. In many drinking holes across the continent, fist fights broke out over who loved Obama most.
On inauguration day Tuesday, parties and gatherings were organised to witness the historic occasion. I am afraid when it was all over, many were nursing bruised egos. In his entire speech, Obama never once mentioned the word Africa. Now these speeches are drafted months in advance. Every single word and punctuation mark is pored over by teams of highly intelligent aides with the main man having the final say. Folks, Obama deliberately chose to omit any mention of Africa in his speech. This was a telling gesture. That is why I am happy.
This snub will teach Africans a few lessons. For one the borders of America won’t be flung open to welcome masses of desperate Africans. Secondly, Africans must know that Obama is the president of America and not Africa. It is America he is focused on and nothing else.
Ouch, Obama did not even bother mentioning the name of the country his father came from, contrary to expectations. The message was clear.
At least to me it was clear as day. Those who did not hear the message won’t have to wait long for another shocker. In a few weeks time Obama will travel the world. I can bet you Africa will not be on his itinerary. He will visit only those countries that matter in the global scheme of things. Why am I celebrating Obama’s snub of Africans on a day when they were preening and gloating? Simple. Obama should not associate himself with a failed continent where things are not done properly.
Any reference to Africa, Kenya or that little village, by name, would have been an endorsement of all the nasty things about this continent. It would have mounted to acknowledging corruption, dictators, tribalism, witchcraft, intolerance, rigged elections, looting, and violence and general mayhem.
Obama’s snub of their miserable little continent should be a wake up call to Africans and their leaders to start behaving like the rest of the civilised world. If being ignored on what they considered their most important day saddens Africans, they can still make amends. In four years, time Obama will be contesting for re-election. My favourite new man ought to coast to victory.
If Africans want to be acknowledged in that speech, then they must make drastic improvements and get rid of all the nasty characteristics blighting this continent. Only then will Obama make a nod to them. If after four years, things are still the same then Obama must ignore us. But knowing my people in forty-eight months, things would have moved from bad to worse. In that case, there is only one thing I am certain of in the second inauguration speech. Obama is going to ignore us again.
How I look forward to another snub in 2012
