B’ Lincoln

Though separated by 200 years destiny finally succeeded to bring President B'Obama and Lincoln the Great Emancipator into the Oval Office. Comparisons have been rife since Obama, the “real” first black president, won election in 2008. Lincoln was himself once referred to as ‘Abraham Africanus the First.’ Civil rights leader Martin King delivered his “I have a dream” from the steps of Lincoln Memorial and nearly half a century later the dream appears to have been somewhat realized. We say 'somewhat' because the story is still unfolding and we can't foresee the surprises. In Springfield, Illinois [Lincoln’s state] in February 2009, Obama put it this way:

It's a humbling task, marking the bicentennial of our 16th president's birth -- humbling for me in particular because it's fair to say that the presidency of this singular figure who we celebrate in so many ways made my own story possible.

This past Tuesday in his State of the Union Address Obama again gave us another serving of an affinity he has for Lincoln:

I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. 

Obama is never about Black/White, Red/Blue, and now Democrat/Republican. Never mind Abraham Lincoln was a “war president”; Obama portrayed himself as a peace president resurrecting the notion of “An America built to last” now in the throes of uncertainty and increasing inequality.

Seen from the perspective of the developing world, the president’s use of a military model and his proposal to Congress to grant him the “authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy so that our Government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the American people” is worrisome. Is his request to Congress a pointer to a thinly-veiled “developmental state” and thus could result in strengthening the hands of African despots? One feature common to Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan [North and South], Libya, etc is the presence of a strong military serving itself, its “civilian” leaders and foreign donors and the insatiable urge to concentrate power in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Consolidating power may be efficient but the real question is, Is it fair? Fair to which group of people? 

Obama’s quoted speech is of limited currency, of course. America still has enough structural safety and sensibility to check an overbearing government. We just hope Obama is not about National/International dichotomies. He has declared he is for human dignity everywhere. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere?” Could Obama, hailing from our neck of the woods and eager to realize the dreams of his father, be the Great Emancipator of peoples suffering under despots?

Release Eskinder Negga, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet and all prisoners of conscience!