Thursday, May 15, 2008

Applying Kennedy in Africa

Via Andrew Sullivan, an article in The American contrasting Botswana's relative success with it's neighbor Zimbabwe. Basically it came down to different applications of JFK: in Zimbabwe the leaders asked what the country can do for them, while in Botswana the leaders asked what they can do for their country.

Another item in the article caught my eye for a different reason:

It is surely a sign of Botswana’s relative comfort with racial diversity that on April 1, 2008, Ian Khama, the first-born son of the country’s founder, took over the reigns of power in Botswana, thus becoming the first half-white leader of an African democracy.

Although it's almost never mentioned that way, we here in the US have a half-white person in contention for the Presidency as well. If Obama wins, I hope he gets together with Ian Khama.

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