Desmond Tutu to Sen. Obama: ‘I’m Glad You’re Black’
AP, August 22, 2006
Nobel Peace prize winner Desmond Tutu offered Illinois’ freshman senator a boost Monday for any future presidential bid.
“You’re born to be a very credible presidential candidate,” Tutu told Sen. Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan economist and the U.S. Senate’s only black member.
“I hope that I would be equally nice to a young white senator, but I’m glad you are black,” grinned the anti-apartheid veteran.
Though still in his first term, Obama has become a well-known political figure and is often mentioned by political analysts and activists as a future president or vice president.
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Obama, who is due to visit his father’s home in Kenya, as well as Chad and the Congo, reiterated one of his favorite themes: that African countries should not expect handouts and could not blame colonialism indefinitely for their woes. Instead they should strive for good governance and invest in the future by better education.
“The factor of corruption has impeded development dramatically,” he commented
