Obama In Message To Kenyans: The Way Forward Is Not Through Violence

Chicago Sun-Times:

DES MOINES--White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the son of a Kenyan and who visited his father's country last year, issued a plea Wednesday to the Kenyan people to stop the violence that erupted in the wake of a disputed presidential election.

On the day before the Iowa caucus, the first presidential vote, Obama taped a message while in Davenport, Iowa for the Kenyan people broadcast on the Voice of America.

Read the whole story: Chicago Sun-Times

Comments

[isis]

All of us common people world over need to understand that when we revolt or bring chaos to the world there are disaster capitalists who will profit more than we do. Biden explained it pretty well in a speech yesterday. We must do all we can to support and vote for candidates who will promote peace and world wide humanitarian aid and to stick up for the environment.

[ceasenake]

Dear Savages,

Stop chopping each other up with machetes!

Barack Hussein Obama

[lafrance]

If I was running for president and trouble broke out in France (where my mother is from), I would tread very carefully as well. I may have family there but, no official duty.
Obama is not the president - yet and has no authority to insert himself into the situation. It is for the administration to decide the best way to handle it. Obama was correct to talk with Rice before doing anything.
The mature thing to do and I notice he did not say anything about it publicly. He did this quietly with Voice of America.
This is how a leader in waiting should be.

[Wanjiru]

...with all due respect to your comment, Sen. Barack Obama is a candidate for the presidency of the United States of America, and is not in a race for the presidency of Kenya...

...while his ties to Kenya are evident; his biological father being a Kenyan native, and his popularity in Kenya is high, it is important for there to be the clear distinction I stated above...

...I appreciate his comments, and would hope for more leaders, including other presidential candidates in the USA, to condemn the acts of violence being wrought on innocent lives in Kenya...and to step up the pressure on the Kenyan leadership, to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the current chaos in the country...

...thank you for your comments, Sen. Obama, and you still have both my support and vote in the upcoming US presidential elections...

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[jtb230]

It is quite overdue for Obama to speak up about the horrific situation in Kenya. But what he needs to be doing is not soft PR pieces like this, but the actual work that is expected of a PRESIDENTIAL candidate, which means calling and talking to Kibaki and Odinga and taking a more active role to curb the violence. Unless he has done this already, then his statement to the Kenyan people is anemic and provides little help. Mr. Obama is extremely popular in Kenya, and for the most part his popularity cuts across ethnic lines, it is time that he acted like the President he claims to be and SHOW the leadership he so fondly speaks about. In parts of Kenya comparisons are already being made to Rwanda, we cannot wait and those in power will be judged by the lives they did or did not safe, and by their bold leadership or their callous indifference.