Zimbabwe Absurdity

For some reason my satellite radio has not been picking up the BBC World Service so I was quite pleased that when I turned it on this evening it was back on the air. World Have Your Say is a popular programme where listeners call in from around the world to discuss various topics. I don’t often listen but this evening it was all about the inauguration tomorrow of Barack Obama. The programme was based in The Mall in Washington DC where it seems that tens of thousands of people have gathered on Martin Luther King Day – the eve of the ceremony. Are we expecting too much of the man – seems to be the topic. Opinion is divided. But why then are so many people there? I don’t recall any of this anticipation for GW’s inauguration. Certainly everyone seems to be expecting change. Call me cynical but I don’t think much IS going to change! I do hope that the appalling environmental policies of the Bush administration will be dumped but as for foreign policy? Obama is first and foremost a politician and will be trying to get re-elected in 4 years so I suspect foreign policies at least will no more than shift. Noticeable change, yes, radical change, no. So why all the excitement? Is it because he is a man of colour – a novelty in American presidential politics? Perhaps. There is no doubt that the man is charismatic but that does not necessarily make a good president. Of course they had to phone a few Kenyans to get their opinion. Apparently the populace is in full party mode but mainly because Obama’s father is of Kenyan birth – reflected glory syndrome.

I have been to several places today and not once did I even hear the name “Obama”. I don’t think that anyone had even realized that tomorrow is his inauguration. We are all too busy surviving and are under no illusion that we have anything that is remotely important to the USA to warrant anything more than a targeted sanctions wrist-slapping of the entrenched kelptocrats that run this country.