Funmi Iyanda

(Disclaimer: The opinions contained below are not by an expert on America or someone interested in being an expert on America).

If I had a dollar (not worth as much these days) for every time I have been asked what my opinion is on the American elections, I might be able to buy myself a Cartier Santos. Only very few people have asked about the Kenyan crisis or the future of South Africa under Zuma. It would not be remarkable but for the fact that the people asking are Nigerians, many of whom have no idea who Sullivan Chime is or that his election had been nullified. In a way I am not surprised as I used to be baffled at the passion and detail with which friends in the last national assembly debated policies of the Blair Administration even when they have no idea where Ileoluji is. It could be the power of the west controlled media, it could also be escapism but left to me the one thing I would love to borrow from America is her internal insularity and the tendency to see the world only as it relates to America and her "enlightened" interest.

Therefore in the race to the white (una hear that? White!) house, who will serve the African (dem no see us as sovereign, independent and widely divergent nations within a continent) interest best? The woman or the black man? Isn't it an interesting place America and the world (by virtue of America's power and influence) has come to? The next American president may come to a choice between the two most discriminated human groups in the world, the female person and the black person. Sure strides have been made in the emancipation of both, more so in certain countries and regions than others. I also do admit that it will be uncharitable to reduce Clinton and Obama to human statistics as both are strong human characters regardless of gender or colour but charity does not make a great copy. So which is America more ready for, a black president or a female president?


If there is one thing the re election of Bush in 2004 proved, it is the power of America conservative core voters for whom all these newly fangled non evangelistical rights, ideas and advocacy remains a confusion. It may be politically incorrect to say so but wouldn't America rather elect a woman person than a black person? All my right of left leaning, intellectual American friends are quick to support Obama for fear of being perceived as racist, uncouth and uncool but they are not only in a minority, there are cracks in their ranks.

As to the more charitable question of a choice between Hillary and Obama, my gut instincts say it will be Hillary. Obama may be the more likable young, handsome, rhetorically eloquent poster child of a progressive America (where in lies the lie, yes I know how that sounds) but Clinton is a reflection of America's uncomfortable truth. Dogged, connected, established, calculated, ambitious and effective all in a nicely coiffed exterior. All admirable if she wasn't a she.

Personally, I prefer Clinton. I do not find her likeable but I admire her, every line on her face, every battle, every position she has is earned and won in spite of the fact that she is not a lovable cuddly person. She works hard, she is knowledgeable, she has experienced public admiration, disdain and derision at different levels and roles (student activist, lawyer, mother, wife, first lady, senator) of her adult life and emerged, bruised but winning, hair blow-dried. I can only salute such a person. I am suspicious of the fact that the most important reason I am supposed to like Obama is because he has African roots, so what? I have not even heard a definitive statement about the Kenyan wahala from him. His speeches are too slogany which irks me as a Nigerian used to that sort of hoodwinking (vision 2010, 2025, change agents, change agenda, anticorruption etc, e bloody tc). I am also suspicious of squeaky clean public image or untested public poster children. That deep American drawl, 2.5 kids, stepfordy wife and goody two shoes rhetoric from a black man though understandable (no white establishment anywhere can digest a less dusted down black male) is Oreolly, Denzelly and motivational speaky.

As a Nigerian, I don't expect any of the candidates, including the now frankly uninteresting white males to favour me, however as an Africa black female person I once again lean towards Clinton. This after comparing their actions and positions on things like immigration, foreign policy and women's rights. I actually empathize with Obama because he cannot overtly play that African card too much or it will hurt his candidacy, similarly, if elected he would have to constantly prove that he is not unduly biased by his ethnicity. With experience he will learn to walk that thin line, right now, he hasn't got the experience. Clinton has had to walk that line regarding her gender and has found that balance and her voice.

America stands at the cusp of a very interesting reality; a new sort of leadership is required even if it is only on the surface. None of the white males bring that to bear, Obama would be great if I had more to go by in terms of experience and concrete action but Hillary is more deserving and perhaps better prepared, I like warriors and humans whose flaws I know. However, whether America will vote either of them against a fairly good white male candidate is a matter I am undecided about but I just feel that Clinton might be a more interesting new world leader going forth.