Finally!

I have long been searching for an in-depth critique of the presidential candidates' view on Africa, from policy to trade to "fixing" problems. Leave it to AllAfrica to provide exactly what I've been looking for. So far I've only read the arguments for each candidate, but plan to do some more in-depth reading tomorrow. I had to switch to Obama after page 1 of the pro-McCain article talked about how great Republicans are and how George W. visited Uganda, Nigeria, blah blah blah. Damn lot of good that did everyone.

Now most of you know I tend to be rather bipartisan when it comes to dealing with Africa, in that if you do something good for Africa/Africans, I will tend to be supportive of that action, but if you are useless, I probably will not like you. I will never ever forgive Bill Clinton for Rwanda, and he is akin to God to some people in this country, but I truly feel that his lack of action, despite whatever his intentions MAY HAVE BEEN will forever overshadow any good he did the world. I know it's harsh, but that's how I feel, and no apology, no humanitarian mission, nothing will ever make me feel differently about the situation. I think after W. leaves office many of us will look back and remember all the crap he did and look at his inaction in the Darfur situation and will be much quicker to lay the blame on W because he's been a lousy president than we ever did on Big Willy because people "loved" him and he was so "great." I guess I judge harshly, and I judge based on what I think is important and know that I am biased in the grand scale of "what is important" but there you have it.

I think that our next president will have to address problems in Africa, from Ethiopia's drought to Congo's war to Zimbabwe's inflation to Kenya's startling post-election instability and of course, the devastating AIDS crisis. Each candidate seems to have a plan, and I can only hope they stand by it. I will say that the Bush administration's AIDS action plan on paper seemed quite brilliant, but other situations presented themselves and that got put on the back burner. I'm not saying that we didn't need to deal with other stuff first by any means, but it would be nice if the president and his staff could stay on task and get some of this stuff done, or at least lay a plan and a beginning to some of the issues. Ultimately I don't think the US could solve these problems single-handedly (obviously, duh) but we have so much power, and it'd be great to see it channeled into a positive means for a change.

Anywho. I will continue to do my bit and still formulate my plan on how I'm going to save the world. Cause I'm totally going to do it. Thought I forgot, eh? No way. I'm saving the world. It might take me til an ancient and decrepit age to do it, but someone's got to, and I've decided that that someone is me. I'll let Obama help though ;)