Obama and Odinga: there you go again
McCain's supporters are rehashing some old rumors about Obama and Kenyan PM Raila Odinga, as in this scurrilous YouTube video. Without any expertise in Kenyan politics, I found a few problems with this video's claims about Obama:
CLAIM:
"In 2006, as a member of the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama campaigned for Raila Odinga in Kenya...at taxpayer expense."
FACT: Obama visited Kenya (as well as South Africa and Chad) in August and September 2006, but he did not support Odinga:
"Obama has remained neutral in Kenyan politics, and did not support Odinga during his trip" (Source: Politifact)
"Obama's perceived support for Odinga may have arisen from a speech he gave to university students in Nairobi during his 2006 visit. Obama spoke out against corruption in President Kibaki's government. Because Odinga is Kibaki's main political rival, Obama's criticism was misconstrued to mean that he had endorsed Odinga." (Source: PBS)
CLAIM:
"Why did Barack Obama...use his elected office and taxpayer dollars...
to support a man...
like Raila Odinga?"
FACT: As noted above, Obama did not support Odinga. When the violence erupted more than a year later (after the election results were announced on 30 December 2007), Obama phoned Odinga--with State Department approval--to say this:
"Obviously he believes that the votes were not tallied properly. But what I urged was that all the leaders there, regardless of their position on the election, tell their supporters to stand down, to desist with the violence and resolve it in a peaceful way in accordance with Kenyan law." (Source: MediaMatters)
"Obama appealed for a negotiated settlement in a radio address broadcast in Kenya and has reached out to the major players." (Source: Chicago Sun-Times)
Obama has addressed these smears before. Swift-Boat author Jerome Corsi (who appears in the video, and whose anti-Obama book was thoroughly debunked in "Unfit for Publication") got in trouble with Kenyan authorities during a recent book publicity trip there, but that hardly makes his old accusations newsworthy again.
McCain's supporters are apparently getting desperate, given the depths to which they're descending to manufacture these allegations.