by Don Kwikshot

Created on: January 22, 2009

From the way that various African countries have rejoiced in Obama's accession to the White House, they have claimed him as one of their own. A national holiday has been proclaimed in Kenya (the birthplace of his father) and the radio in South Africa has been full of comments filled with hope, based purely on the fact that he is of mixed race and has a brown skin.

As an onlooker to this rather amusing political charade, one has to wonder if Africa really believes that his appearance on the political scene is some sort of 'second coming'. We in South Africa are supposed to have abandoned racial classification when the ANC came to power in 1994, and yet we still manage to regard people through entirely racist eyes. Because Obama is a little darker than a 'white' person, then he must be black

Because he's black, the continent readily assumes that he will put Africa's interests before those of the country which he serves. Can anyone be so short-sighted as to really believe this? Obama's real origins, apart from the accident of DNA, can hardly be described as African, or even African-American (although I'm not quite sure what that is). Yes, he certainly visited Kenya during the run-up to the American polls, but I doubt that any of us is silly enough to see that for anything other than it really was: a purely political ploy. I have also visited Kenya on several occasions, but that does not in any way make me Black, or Kenyan, and I would be very surprised if anyone of that nation thought of me that way.

On looking at both sides of the story, I would say that Obama is no more than a dark-skinned person who firstly and foremostly will have to kowtow to his financial backers and who will not be free to suddenly offer hand-outs to every begging nation on the African continent, as so many believe.

I think that there can be no doubt that Obama has used his 'blackness' to his own advantage, both at home and abroad; it must be worth a considerable number of votes and a great deal of goodwill from so-called Black nations. But will his accession really make a difference on this continent? I doubt it.

Despite his mixed-race origins, Obama has had a thoroughly 'white' life: he has been to Harvard, has enjoyed many of the benefits which 'Black' people envy, thus his attitude must be much more 'white' than 'black'. If one looks at his background, he has very little in common with African-Americans; he has travelled, lived in many places, and has a good world-view. Very few African-Americans

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