Obama 2012 and the Ethiopians Vote

Blame it on these trio – Susan, Vickie & Gayle

Wemezekir blog

I suspect Obama will lose the votes of significant Ethiopian Americans especially in key battle ground states like Virginia, Nevada etc.. I am not saying this out of nothing. It is based on what I was told by volunteers from Continental Africans for Obama who had met lots of Ethiopians at large events in Washington, D.C. area. They said to me “your people seem to favor Republicans.We are getting lots of push backs saying they are angry at Obama.” I told my friends at the group, “what they see among some Ethiopians is raw emotion because of the disappointment they feel about Obama’s policy toward Ethiopia.

They may not vote for Republicans but they might sit it out and if that is the case and Obama fell short of votes for winning critical states like Virginia, these three trio Obama Administration officials have lots to do with it.” Then I explained how these trio Clinton era State Department staff who have joined the Obama Administration as Senior officials are responsible for the disappointment many Ethiopian felt.

One is Susan Rice who cast herself as a leader in the efforts of bringing dictators to ICC and who does not mince her words in castigating such as the late Colonel Gaddafi & General Omar al-Bashir of Sudan or Mugabe of Zimbabwe. But, when it comes to friends of America dictators such as Legesse Zenawi the same Susan Rice has nothing but praise like the overboard eulogy she delivered in Addis Ababa during the funeral of the late dictator. Unfortunately for Obama, come election time, some Ethiopian Americans who were incensed with her recent remarks might want to prove that the “idiots” she and Legesse Zenawi were talking about would be the one who would determine the fate of her boss as well as her bully pulpit at the UN.

One can smell same type of hypocrisy in Vicki Huddleston. This lady who is now serving as Senior Official at the Pentagon after serving as senior diplomat in U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa used to meet & give open defiant support to Cuban political dissidents when she was posted in Havana. When it comes to Ethiopian political dissidents & opposition politicians, she tells them to lay low and dare to threaten them with dire consequences if they do not accept the terms laid out by the late Ethiopian dictator.

Gayle Smith, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National Security Council is an old pal of Legesse Zenawi and the party he led from the time she spent time in DEDEBIT desert with them. She was journalist who worked for several years covering Africa and it was in Cairo where she was stationed at the time that she established contact for the first time with EPLF & TPLF functionaries. After several contacts, EPLF & TPLF succeeded in soliciting her support for their cause. She was persuaded to go to their offices in Sudan and their bases in Eritrea & Tigray. Since that time, it is believed that she played key role in creating connections between TPLF and the Western world, especially the U.S. Officials. It is even alleged that she later joined them, stayed in the desert with them, took Tigrigna lesson and advised in the formation of Tigray Women forum. That is the reason some in the political circle call her “TEGADALIT Gayle”. It is even rumored that prior to joining the Clinton Administration, she had worked as advisor to Meles. You can’t find more intimately close to TPLF and the late autocratic ruler of Ethiopia than “TEGADALIT Gayle”.

Coming back to the issue of Ethiopian American voters in key battle ground states like Virginia, I am not saying it is the rational thing to do but I have strong feeling that there will be Ethiopian Americans who will be sitting out if not vote against Obama. Anger is strong emotion not bound with rational thinking. Stay tuned and you will see some movement or actions among Ethiopian Americans who are feeling empowered to make their statement. The fact that many political pundits predict that this year’s election is going to be determined by how much the Obama campaign is able to get voters in Northern Virginia turnout in mass & vote for the democratic ticket is god given opportunity fallen to those who were referred as “idiots” by Meles in his conversation with Dr. Rice.