Unrelated Obamas Relish Connection

Africa advocates say White House overlooks troubled continent

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama's trip to southern Africa this week is giving new life to criticism that the Obama administration is overlooking the troubled continent, reports the Washington Post . The president has been to sub-Saharan Africa only once since taking office— a 24-hour trip to Ghana in 2009 —and critics say the region has been largely ignored. The American government is “not seeing Africa as a big priority," said a spokesman for TransAfrica Forum. "There has been some ambivalence.” More»

And as for Kenya comment, 'I made a mistake, I corrected it'

(NEWSER) - Mike Huckabee has more to say on both of his recent headline-making statements: That Barack Obama grew up in Kenya , and that Natalie Portman is setting a bad example with her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Mediaite reports Huckabee’s comments from Sirius Radio’s POTUS channel:

• On Kenya: “The reaction ranged from, ‘This guy is so dumb he doesn’t know that Barack Obama grew up in Indonesia not Kenya,’ all the way to the other extreme, I saw people like Andrea Mitchell saying, ‘Oh no, he did this on purpose, he is very smart and shrewd, he did this in a calculating way.' Well, I can’t be both. I can’t be the dumbest guy in the room and the smartest guy in the room at the same time. I have to be one or the other, or maybe it was just that I made a mistake, I corrected it.”

Family members question 'car accident' story

(NEWSER) - The official story is that President Obama’s father died after crashing his car into a tree—but Obama’s family in Kenya fears foul play had a hand in his death, according to a book Peter Firstbrook is working on about the Obamas. Though Barack Sr.’s car appeared to have hit a tree, “he didn’t look like somebody who was involved in an accident,” the president’s cousin told Firstbrook. His grandmother told a similar tale. "His body was never broken, his vehicle was not badly crashed. He was just dead after the accident. Not even much blood was seen." More»

Even Bush was better, Kristof writes

(NEWSER) - When is comes to Sudan , Barack Obama has been worse than even George W Bush, argues Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , who despite his many failings, managed to secure the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's 20-year civil war. Obama's "incoherent, contradictory and apparently failing Sudan policy" is setting the stage for a bloody war or another round of genocide next year, when oil-rich Southern Sudan is likely to vote to secede. More»

Says government responsibility key to 'economic progress'

(AP) - Hillary Clinton criticized Kenya today for rampant graft and corruption as she made the case that business and trade across Africa cannot grow without good governance and solid democracy. In President Obama's ancestral homeland, the secretary of State said, "True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law, and deliver results for their people." More»