Obamania

7/6/08

Exaggeration of Kenya’s excitement over Obama’s rise is impossible. Saturday, I donned my Obama T-shirt to see what interactions would transpire. As I descended the stairs of the room in the hostel where I put the shirt on, the guy manning the reception desk stopped me, politely demanding I tell him how Obama could be so successful in America. A Luo from Obama’s native province Nyanza, he recited several Barack-finds-himself-in-Kenya’s-homeland anecdotes and speculations. His friend drifted within earshot of the banter, his eyes glowing as he annunciated www.barackobama.com off the shirt printing in a voice actors use when they begin reading sacred religious texts. And he was a supposed rival Kikuyu. The two then tugged at each end of the shirt and, laughing, told me hold still. Three hours, two life stories, and one people’s history of Kenya later, I put on a long-sleeve over the hot item and headed downtown to meet up with the young, pre-eminent Kenyan historian Nicolas Githuku.
Already bubbling with U.S. primary conversation as we waded through rip tides of Saturday night street traffic, the drinking of the two Tusker Fame Eviction Party K2 Tusker pints given to each entrant at the door had us spitting perspectives at near-flow speeds, volume, and, I know on my part, creativity. Toasting to the 3rd-most famous leader named Hussein, I tried to speak from deep in the throat to be heard over the latest East African Nameless and Nonini cuts, and to be noticed over a contentiously heckled Portugal v Turkey match. My experience rasping into faint P.A. systems let me get through to Nick and other Obamaites, who tell me “thank you for Obama,” to which I respond, “thank you for Obama.”
Heading to Nick’s on Sunday, one could actually hear people shouting “Obama” from several establishments besides bars as they read a Sunday Nation that contained no less than 8 articles on the Greatest Black Man in the History of the World.