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Africa Subsaharan
Bush basks in African praise
2008-02-18
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Unpopular at home and in much of the world during the last year of his presidency, ...
... translates as 'unpopular with the moonbats, socialists and BDS sufferers' ...
... George W. Bush is basking in rare adulation on his African tour.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete poured praise on Bush in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, the second day of his five-nation African tour, each compliment applauded warmly by members of the east African country's cabinet.

Although around 2,000 Muslim demonstrators protested against Bush on the eve of his visit, many thousands more cheering, waving people lined his road from the airport on Saturday. Banners across the route, decorated with Bush's image against a backdrop of Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro, read: "We cherish democracy. Karibu (welcome) to President and Mrs Bush."

Others read: "Thank you for helping fight malaria and HIV." Dancers at the airport and at Kikwete's state house to greet Bush on Sunday, wore skirts and shirts decorated with his face.

Beaming repeatedly during a press conference with Kikwete, he made a point of referring to his welcome on the streets, which he described as "very moving". Bush opened his remarks by saying "Vipi Mambo!" before turning to U.S. journalists and adding: "For the uneducated, that's Swahili for 'Howdy Y'all'" --a typical Texas greeting.

Kikwete told Bush: "The outpouring of warmth and affection from the people of Tanzania that you have witnessed since your arrival is a genuine reflection of what we feel towards you and towards the American people."

In a reference to Bush's domestic problems, Kikwete added: "Different people may have different views about you and your administration and your legacy.

"But we in Tanzania, if we are to speak for ourselves and for Africa, we know for sure that you, Mr. President, and your administration have been good friends of our country and have been good friends of Africa."

Although many Africans, especially Muslims, share negative perceptions of Bush's foreign policy with other parts of the world, there is widespread recognition of his successful humanitarian and health initiatives on the continent. Bush has spent more money on aid to Africa than his predecessor, Bill Clinton, and is popular for his personal programs to fight AIDS and malaria and to help hospitals and schools.

Bush has stressed new-style partnerships with Africa based on trade and investment and not purely on aid handouts. His Millennium Challenge Corp. rewards countries that continue to satisfy criteria for democratic governance, anti-corruption and free-market economic policies. Bush signed the largest such deal, for $698 million, with Kikwete on Sunday.
Bill Clinton talked but didn't do much. Bush said relatively little and got a lot done. I know who I respect ...
Because of the U.S. anti-malaria program, 5 percent of patients tested positive for the disease on the offshore islands of Zanzibar in 2007 compared to 40 percent three years earlier, the Tanzanian leader said.

Bush's legacy in Africa would be saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of mothers and children who would otherwise have died from malaria or AIDS and enabling millions of people to get an education, he said. "I know you leave office in about 12 months' time. Rest assured that you will be remembered for many generations to come for the good things you've done for Tanzania and the good things you have done for Africa," Kikwete said.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  From No Pasaran, Wednesday, October 19, 2005:

Won't Bono ever learn? Again, he meets with an infamous character, sharing lunch at the doofus's home (a tip o' the hat to RV).

In his conversations with Michka Assayas, the rock star and champion of the poor speaks of previous meetings in the White House and Washington:

I was in a photo with President Bush because he’d put $10 billion over three years on the table in a breakthrough increase in foreign assistance called the Millennium Challenge. I had just got back from accompanying the president as he announced this at the Inter-American Development Bank.

I kept my face straight as we passed the press corps, but the peace sign was pretty funny. He thought so, too. Keeping his face straight, he whispered, “There goes a front page somewhere: Irish rock star with the Toxic Texan.”

I think the swagger and the cowboy boots come with some humour. He is a funny guy. Even on the way to the bank he was taking the piss. The bulletproof motorcade is speeding through the streets of the capital with people waving at the leader of the free world, and him waving back.

I say: “You’re pretty popular here!”

He goes: “It wasn’t always so . . .” — Oh really? — “Yeah. When I first came to this town, people used to wave at me with one finger. Now, they found another three fingers and a thumb.”

So you liked this man?

Yes. As a man, I believed him when he said he was moved to also do something about the Aids pandemic. I believed him. Listen, I couldn’t come from a more different place, politically, socially, geographically. I had to make a leap of faith to sit there. He didn’t have to have me there at all. But you don’t have to be harmonious on everything — just one thing — to get along with someone.

…What was your gut feeling the first time you came face to face with President Bush?

He was very funny and quick. Just quick-witted. With him, I got pretty quickly to the point, and the point was an unarguable one — that 6,500 people dying every day of a preventable and treatable disease [Aids] would not be acceptable anywhere else in the world other than Africa, and that before God and history this was a kind of racism that was unacceptable.

And he agreed: “Yeah, it’s unacceptable.” He said: “In fact, it’s a kind of genocide.”

He used the word “genocide”, which I took to imply our complicity in this, which I absolutely agree with. Later, his staff tried to take the edge off the word. But in the Rose Garden there was press, and I already had used the word.

He really helped us in using that word. He knew it was hyperbole, but it was effective. We get on very well. I couldn’t come from a more different place. We disagree on so many things. But he was moved by my account of what was happening in Africa. He was engaged.

I think, when I’m sitting two feet from someone, I could tell if this was just politics. This was personal. I think, for all the swagger, this Texan thing, he has a religious instinct that keeps him humble.

You mean that right-wing fundamentalist neocon scary stuff?

Actually, he’s a Methodist. It has to be said that most of the people in the cabinet are not religious extremists.

But you must have disagreed with him at some point.

He banged the table at me once, when I was ranting at him about the ARVs [Aids drugs] not getting out quick enough. I’m Irish. When we get excited we don’t pause for breath, no full stops or commas. He banged the table to ask me to let him reply. He smilingly reminded me he was the president. It was a heated debate. I was very impressed that he could get so passionate. And, let’s face it, tolerating an Irish rock star is not a necessity of his office.

Could you imagine Her Inevitableness in this situation?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-02-18 10:46  

#8  
Because of the U.S. anti-malaria program, 5 percent of patients tested positive for the disease on the offshore islands of Zanzibar in 2007 compared to 40 percent three years earlier, the Tanzanian leader said.


Holy crap!

And yet the left considers Bush a monster...
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2008-02-18 09:21  

#7  But Obama is the guy they want in the White House next. He'll give them even more money.
Posted by: Glenmore   2008-02-18 07:17  

#6  Made me sick to my stomach, Super "W" flying into Africa to tell the Africans to 'buck up, suck it up, and take better care of themselves and the land' as he warn of the days coming where the weaning off the teats is approaching! If "W" is so concerned over the 'endless' dollars draining out of the American pie in this recession and to this continent, then just maybe he should land in central America and Mexico on the way back! African illegal aliens?? I would love to see the many senoritas with Bush ladened halter bosoms welcoming him down under. Bush won't get this kind of treatment in Mexico? Okay...I may be naive, but I still think he's doing it (the trip) to keep from twiddling his thumbs, following the election results and the downturn of the economy.
Posted by: smn   2008-02-18 04:31  

#5  You can just hear the Reuters reporter gritting his teeth writing this article.
Posted by: gromky   2008-02-18 04:09  

#4  Because of the U.S. anti-malaria program, 5 percent of patients tested positive for the disease on the offshore islands of Zanzibar in 2007 compared to 40 percent three years earlier, the Tanzanian leader said.

I thought malaria was a lifelong condition. If so, then where did the 35% of those with malaria go?
Posted by: gorb   2008-02-18 03:32  

#3  Hope it isn't forgotten about by the time he gets back to D.C.

Pollyanna
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2008-02-18 02:25  

#2  Vipi Mambo!
Posted by: Wheng and Tenille1721   2008-02-18 01:41  

#1  $ 698m is roughly 3 time their annual GNP. Certainly worthy of a hand clap in "W's" direction I'd say. Hope it isn't forgotten about by the time he gets back to D.C.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-02-18 01:38  

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