Jonathan Zimmerman: Actually, it's not always about the United States
Accra Barack Obama took the proud country of Ghana by storm last weekend with his pointed message of peace, democracy and accountability. At the same time, he tried to remind the rest of the world why Africa matters.
“The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well,” Mr. Obama told the Ghanaian parliament. “I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world.”
But to many Americans back home, unfortunately, it's still all about them. Africa exists less as a real place with real problems than as a rhetorical foil in America's own petty politics. And this national narcissism is richly bipartisan, infecting the right and left with equal measure.
Let's start with U.S. conservatives and their voluble talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh. Shortly after Mr. Obama's address, which urged Africans to fight corruption, Mr. Limbaugh took to the airwaves to accuse the President of the same.
“ ‘No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 per cent off the top,' ” he said, beginning as always with a quotation from his target. “Well folks, I'm going to tell you what: Our government is soon going to be skimming 51 per cent off the top of everything we make.”
Got that? Just because Mr. Obama wants Congress to raise taxes on a minority of Americans, he's in the same league as dictators who steal to enrich themselves.
Mr. Limbaugh went on to criticize Mr. Obama because his administration dropped election intimidation charges against the New Black Panthers, who were accused of threatening voters at a Philadelphia polling station in November. He said the President was condemning corruption abroad to divert attention from malfeasance at home.
“He wasn't even speaking to Ghana,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “You know his primary audience is right here. Obama goes to a poor African country and he used the poor African country for a prop.” In fact, it was Mr. Limbaugh who used Ghana as a prop. His rant omitted any mention of Africa itself.
Ditto for lefties in the blogosphere, who would surely cringe at any association with Mr. Limbaugh. But they, too, pounced on the Ghana speech for their own domestic purposes.
“Obama should give this speech to Americans and their ‘leaders,' ” read one typical post from Missouri. “The U.S. had not had good governance and certainly greed, patronage and corruption had become the norm. Wealthy people and corporations of the U.S. have been enriching themselves at the expense of the common welfare.”
Bloggers proceeded in short order to Bernie Madoff, the AIG bailout and illegal wiretapping during George W. Bush's administration (and Mr. Obama's refusal to prosecute it). In each case, the argument goes, America's own behaviour contradicts the soaring rhetoric of the President's address in Ghana.
“Be nice if he'd bring the same apparent firmness and resolve to the finance-world malfeasance/health care/global warming/domestic spying/torture/full GLBT equality/u-name-it debates,” another American poster opined.
The key phrase is “u-name-it,” of course, because these are debates for the United States. Few American pundits of any ideological stripe paused to ask what Ghanaians made of Mr. Obama's speech.
As it happened, they loved it. Ghanaians are pretty tough customers, politically, and they found a lot to fault in Mr. Obama's visit: the gargantuan traffic snarls, the spotty TV coverage, and the tight security that prevented all but a handful of people from glimpsing Mr. Obama. But I didn't hear or read a single note of criticism about the President himself. Instead, Ghanaians tripped over themselves to praise his tough-love message.
“The bane of Africa's development has been repressive regimes and corrupt leaders,” declared a typical editorial. “To us, Obama has spoken and it is up to us to listen or be left behind.”
One of my Ghanaian colleagues put it this way: Africans already know what they need to do, but it was nice to hear that Mr. Obama agrees with them. Too bad so many of his fellow Americans can only think about themselves.