OBAMA in GHANA!!!! (and clinton in kenya!)

SO ----
He came, he saw, he didnt conquer. I have to admit, i was SUPER stoked about it, until i found out how short (~24hrs) it was, and when i heard his speech and found out he mispronounced "Accra" (ps, its ah-CRA, not AH-cra).....and that his speech was pointed at Africa in general more than i'd have liked, but thats a WHOLE other rant of mine....

BUT -- i wish i were there. i wish i could have seen how excited everyone was, even though i'm sure not more than a handful of non-politicians were able to. i read a few articles about how obama paraphernalia were selling like crazy on the streets etc, and i can totally see it happening. i also have flashbacks to the night obama was elected, staying up so late and how excited everyone was! i wish i had seen it!

some interesting sites/articles:
the obama song i heard a LOT while i was there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L85YF0pyPH0
what EVERYONE should know about ghana: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1023444.stm
about why GHANA>NIGERIA --VERY interesting http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8096002.stm
a ghanaian's take on why GHANA was selected over another African country: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8138641.stm
on the street excitement: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8143018.stm

gosh i had a lot more on this, sorry guys!

AND ON TO CLINTON IN KENYA
so she was there last week, and a couple things to note on that:

I think its funny that people got all excited (above) and were all proud of ghana for that being the first african country that obama went to, to prove that its the shining example of democracy, BUT THEN the secretary of state visits kenya, where democracy has not really been democracy in the past few years, and has even been a shining example of non-democracy and resulting ridicule. I remember we (the americans) almost laughed at all the songs on ghanaian radios etc promoting peaceful elections (songs, speeches, etc) until we remembered why: thousands of kenyans had died in 2007-2008. why? well, lots of reasons, but the political leaders actively promoted violence against opposing parties. ghana, in promoting peace (and ignoring some amount of fraud, im sure!) was actively marking itself as different from kenya (and zimbabwe, but im not going into that here.....they too had crappy elections recently that ended in power sharing)...... so does anyone else find it funny that both countries are proud to host the respective leaders, and the VERY different reasons why each was visited?

I also find it interesting that the first African woman and first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004), Wangari Muta Maathai, is Kenyan. Isnt it strange that the country that produces a Nobel Peace Prize winner erupts into election violence in just 3 years? We all have the good, the bad, and the ugly, sorry guys :(

One more comment about the visit - Clinton has been criticized for her response during an interview to a question that asked something about her husband's opinion on an issue (turns out there was a misunderstanding/mistranslation, but she reacted to what she was told). she answered "my husband is not the secretary of state, I am"...... I'm no feminist, but I gotta say I am more than i was a year ago. Especially in such a male-dominated society, I believe that she had every right to be defensive, especially in her position.

sorry that this is a bit late, and if the links dont work anymore :(

PEACE out guys :-D