Here’s a shocker: The Obama Administration proudly supports the existence of voter ID laws… for Kenyans. For Americans, however, it is still, somehow, racist.
While the Obamas and their extended family continue to tour Africa on the taxpayer dime, the Obama Administration released a fact sheet, touting the U.S. support Africa has received to help create honest and legitimate elections.
The fact sheet, entitled, “U.S. Support for Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Rule of Law, and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa,” touts the $53 million spent to help 500,000 people gain legal identification for voting which is a prerequisite for voting in Kenya. The fact sheet begins:
“Civil society and independent media play a critical role in any vibrant democracy. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the United States supports efforts to ensure civil society organizations and independent media can organize, advocate, and raise awareness with governments and the private sector to improve political processes, transparency, and government performance.”
It is hilarious that the Obama Administration still has the gall to espouse the virtue of a transparent government when they, themselves, are more cagey than the Kremlin.
“In Kenya, the $53 million Yes Youth Can program empowers nearly one million Kenyan youth to use their voices for advocacy in national and local policy-making, while also creating economic opportunities. In advance of Kenya’s March 2013 general elections, Yes Youth Can’s ‘My ID My Life’ campaign helped 500,000 youth obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration, and carried out a successful nationwide campaign with Kenyan civic organizations to elicit peace pledges from all presidential aspirants.”
Yes, that’s correct- the Obama Administration is proud of the fact that they have been able to help Africa in their efforts to create democratic elections. It’s a laudable effort.
What is upsetting, however, is that the same measures that President Obama and others in his administration promote for other nations are the same ones vilified here at home.
In fact, in July of 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder called voter ID requirements “poll taxes.” He also stated,
“Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them – and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them.”
He also claimed at the same NAACP meeting,
“Let me be clear: We will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious rights. I can assure you that the Justice Department’s efforts to uphold and enforce voting rights will remain aggressive.”
The controversy surrounding voter ID laws is as ludicrous as political discussions can get. The same government that requires ID’s to drink, to gamble, to smoke and to even get on an airplane claim to believe that asking for an ID to vote is racist.
The Obama Administration supports countries maintaining strict immigration policies but purposefully undermine our own and attempt to paint anti-illegal immigration concerns as a civil rights matter. The Obama Administration also supports Africans in their quest to hold upstanding, honest elections by instituting voter ID requirements; but for America to do it would, somehow, be racist voter disenfranchisement.
Is it really too much to ask that our president advocate for Americans as hard as he advocates for the rights of citizens of other nations?
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