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Obama: 'Blood of Africa' in Me
By Harry Kimball
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Posted Jul 11, 09 9:55 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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President Obama today warned Africans that corruption and strong-arm tactics must be overcome if the continent is to see prosperity, and he promised US support to nations on the right path, Politico reports. “America will be with you,” Obama said in Ghana. “As a partner. As a friend.” (He also dusted off his campaign theme, "Yes you can," for his hosts.) The president highlighted the connection between the two with his own history. The “blood of Africa” is “within me,” he said.
Obama spoke of his father, who “came of age at an extraordinary moment of promise for Africa,” and “the struggles of his own father’s generation,” and drew a lesson. “Africa's future is up to Africans,” but the US will not stand idly by. “We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't.” Obama said he came to Ghana because “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.”