Commentary

We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions expressed in articles we publish......MORE

 
Responsible responses to articles on our pages are welcome.  Response should not be less than 200 words. Write to The Editor: editor@ghanadot.com
 
  Home
 
Russian Reset
The Russian Reset

Obama and the "Russians Did It" Conjecture


E. Ablorh-Odjidja
January 23, 2017


The first Black president, Barrack Obama, left office on January 20, 2017, with a nice time-honored ceremony.

Except, the occasion was marred by protests of some odd sort, that left the premonition that all might not go down well with Obama’s legacy after the handover.

Visible in the lead of the protest, to the handing over from the Obama administration to the incoming new president, Donald J. Trump, was a protest led by Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon and a Democrat member of the House of Congress.  And you ask why?

The rationale Rep. Lewis gave for his protest was that Russia had helped elect Trump in 2016, therefore “his presidency was illegitimate.”

A matter worth asking now is how 'The Russians did it."

This question may be deleterious to Obama’s legacy because the primary assertion, that “the Russians did it,” defies logic. 

 

And for this very reason, may also be dangerous to the nation’s own heritage to an extent that may not seem apparent now.


Key in the consideration of all this will not be Obama’s policies.  Whether these policies were successful or not will be a different matter.

 

Obama's legacy will rather be about how the Russians came to elect the first president in America under the administration of the first American Black president.

 

Sadly, this is the belief to which Rep. Lewis, the Civil Rights icon, has lent his imprimatur.  Russia, for the first time, has had a substantial influence over the American electoral system in 2016, when Trump was elected.

What a blow to the civil rights story.  But it is our very own Congressman Lewis, a Civil Rights icon, that is helping to put this portentous overhang on our first Black administration!

Already, the charge has had some negative impact. It has ruined what ought to have been a peaceful transition from black Obama to white Trump, a first in presidential transitions.

The bad feelings generated may spread deeper to worsen racial tension in America.  How soon the next Black president is elected may be the key.


But for now, Democrats and liberals don't care about the brewing legacy mess after Obama. Congressman Lewis doesn't either. They are all out to get Trump without a whiff of concern.  And this one Russian story now frames the entire Obama's presidency.

With Obama, Democrats found the perfect vehicle for liberal policies, as they have always found useful with past Black leaders and prominent politicians.

Once these leaders were used up, (Harold Lee Washington, Mayor, Chicago 1983; David Norman Dinkins, New York City, 1990 come to mind) they moved on to the next useful black leader.

Congressman Lewis should be worried.  Promises made to Black America are never fulfilled, even after these Black leaders are used up.  Obama’s story would not be different.

 

It is already clear that Obama presidency has been used for reasons other than our own.

Earlier in 2009, I had sensed trouble coming for Obama, at the very moment he accepted the Nobel Peace Award; so early in his presidency, in an administration that was yet to put a marker on the board of history.

But for the Nobel Peace prize administrators, Obama’s ascendancy was good enough; time to bring him in as an ally for causes they supported.  

 

Noble as the presentation was projected to be, it also helped to expose a flaw in Obama's character; his hubris.  This caused him to see the award as one given for accomplishment, when it was rather done for expectation.

 

The official reason for Peace Award states, " to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Obama was yet to meet the requirements, yet he got the prize.  He accepted the award outright and didn’t see it as some kind of a bait.

He had the choice to punt the award to the men of the Civil Rights movement who did more, men who had the moral underpinnings and on whose shoulders he stood.  But he didn’t. 


A bait the prize was.  It focused on what Obama was in the present; a powerful world leader, the Commander in Chief of the world's only superpower army, who could make things happen in the direction and ways of the Nobel Peace Prize.  

 

Viewed from the general side, the award was utilitarian.  But from the racial angle, it could be seen as patronage.  In the end, it helped shape parts of Obama policy initiatives and made them superficially more pacific and global.

 

In a metaphysical sense, it’s made Obama a world citizen, equally in love with all countries, including Russia.

 

Such was Obama’s world, until the 2016 elections and the defeat of Hillary.  And shortly before he left office, he became more aggressive toward the Russians, predicating his action on the improbable premise of Russian Collusion with Trump.

The Russians, in the person of the new US president, have now villainously inserted themselves into the Oval office and ready to cause damage to American interest.

Obama helped push the preposterous assertion to partisan heights, without paying much attention to the damage it might cause his own legacy, American future or relationship with Russia down the line.

So after years of conflicts with America, Russia finally had the opportunity to insert herself into American politics in 2016 and be victorious.  This all happened under Obama, the first Black president and Nobel Peace laureate's watch.

 

Unfortunately, the charge of Russia collusion has landed Obama where Bush was in 2003, when the latter declared “Mission Accomplished.”

In reality, the Russia Collusion charge, uttered after Hillary's loss to Trump in 2016, was a lie.  It was the hungry wish of Democrats to get back in power and to damage Trump.  But unfortunately, it will not stop at Trump.  Damage to peaceful Russia/America relations and Obama’s legacy are the next stops.

Historically, Americans were the winners when it came to relationship tussles with the Russians.

Nixon had a “Detente” with the Russians, the magnitude of which is still felt in the history books today. Kennedy defeated the Russians in a face-off over Cuba.

Reagan's “Gorbachev, tear down this wall” moment in 1987 still rings nostalgic in the ears of Americans until now.

 

For Obama, it would be the Russian Collusion charge.

Even so, relationship with Russia was different at the start.  Obama and Hillary sought a better moment with the Russians, soon after George W. Bush.

That effort brought Hillary and her mock button, with “reset” on it, to Russia.  The meaning intended with the inscription was wrong.  It read “overcharge,” and was humorously corrected to the exact word in the Russian language for the Hillary team by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergai Lavrov.

 

That mock "reset" was an omen. American/Russian relationship has gone “overcharge” for the worse, with no relief in sight.  Sadly, Obama is also an ardent enabler.  Close to him is Congressman Lewis and his fervid protest.

At the inauguration, sixty-eight House Democrats, with Rep Lewis in the lead, protested that Trump was an” illegal president.

Again, John Lewis, a Civil Rights icon, could have done better.  His participation in the protest helped strain further the peace in the transition between Obama and Trump.

Obama becoming the president was probably the greatest achievement of the Civil Rights movement.  Rep. Lewis should have been sensitive and more guarded to the possibility of a damage to the overall heritage of this great Black cause.  

 

But Lewis insisted he was boycotting the inauguration on principle and that it was his first boycott. That “first” excuse turned out to be a lie. He had boycotted George Bush's inaugural in 2001.

In between George Bush and Trump, Lewis had disparaged former Republican presidential candidates, John McCain and Milt Romney by equating each to George Wallace of Alabama, the prototypical segregationist.

With this trend of activism, Lewis had already established for himself a tradition of boycotting only the inauguration of Republican presidencies and calling their prospective candidates racists.


Clearly with this level of activism, John Lewis has been more of a Democrat partisan (for some 30 years) than the Black civil rights warrior he once was. 


Trump is “illegitimate” may be a good strategy for the Democrat’s cause, but the charge may not necessarily be a good protection for Black interest.

 

Many a racist's conscience was salved by the election of the first Black as president.  But not for long.  That same racist sentiment will gloat as the "Russian Collusion" becomes unraveled; more so because it does damage to Obama's legacy. 

However, the manner with which this false "Russian Collusion" charge is being pursued, with support by individuals like Obama himself and Lewis, has already defiled the historic prestige gained with Obama's election.


E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, January 23, 201.
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all.

 
 
 

China’s debt-trap diplomacy
LiveMint, Jan 31, Ghanadot - If there is one thing at which China’s leaders truly excel, it is the use of economic tools to advance their country’s geostrategic interests........
More

 

World Bank misled Ghana – Osafo-Marfo
Ghanaweb, Jan 23, Ghanadot - Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo reiterated that the World Bank misled the country over the collapse of the facility because in his view, “the reasons assigned to the collapse of the bank were not tenable.”.......
More

   

The open internet is under threat, according to a new report — and it needs your help
BusinessInsider, Jan 23, Ghanadot - A key concern of Surman about the modern web is consolidation — the increasing way a few major players have monopolies or near-monopolies in their sectors. Think Facebook, Google, Amazon, and so on. This, he argues, cannot be a good thing.......More

 

 

Ghana Leaves Key Rate Steady as Policy Makers Seek Stable Cedi
Bloomberg, Jan 25, Ghanadot - The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee left the rate at 25.5 percent, Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra. Only two of six economists in a Bloomberg survey said the central bank would keep borrowing costs unchanged, while the remaining four predicted a rate cut of 50 to 150 basis points. ....More

   
  ABC, Australia
FOXNews.com
The EastAfrican, Kenya
African News Dimensions
Chicago Sun Times
The Economist
Reuters World
CNN.com - World News
All Africa Newswire
Google News
The Guardian, UK
Africa Daily
IRIN Africa
The UN News
Daily Telegraph, UK
Daily Nation, East Africa
BBC Africa News, UK
Legal Brief Africa
The Washington Post
BusinessInAfrica
Mail & Guardian, S. Africa
The Washington Times
ProfileAfrica.com
Voice of America
CBSnews.com
New York Times
Vanguard, Nigeria
Christian Science Monitor
News24.com
Yahoo/Agence France Presse
 
  SPONSORSHIP AD HERE  
 
   

Announcements
Debate
Commentary
Ghanaian Paper
Health
Market Place
News
Official Sites
Pan-African Page
Personalities
Reviews
Social Scene
Sports
Travel

 
   

Currency Converter
Educational Opportunities
Job Opening
FYI

 
 
 
Send This Page To A Friend: