Africa Policy Outlook 2009

The outpouring of emotion across Africa when President Barack Obama was sworn in had as much to do with his heritage as with the possibility that he might reverse some of the Bush administration's disastrous policies.

President George W. Bush trumpeted Africa as a foreign policy success, highlighting the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR ) as proof. He didn't mention the extremely unpopular ideological limitations on PEPFAR that he championed.  He also failed to mention the impact of his administration's other key initiatives that were also important to African people. He didn't talk about the dramatic increase in military spending, the controversial creation of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM ), the extremely flawed war on terror, his unpopular unilateral and bilateral approaches to various countries, the collapse of Somalia, his support for undemocratic leaders, and the undermining of the United Nations, particularly its peacekeeping operations. 

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