LOW-KEY VISIT ENDS
It was a lowkey trek with Mandela sick
With Nelson Mandela gravely ill, President Obama’s trip to Africa was a quiet event from start to finish.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — On his last day on the continent, President Barack Obama stood at a memorial here. He watched a Marine lay a wreath in honor of victims of a 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in this capital city on the Indian Ocean. He made no remarks.
And with that, one of his last appearances on his weeklong tour of Africa, Obama ended his trip much as it began — quietly.
The first African-American president’s first tour of the continent was less a whirlwind swing than a carefully planned trek to stops familiar to other U.S. presidents. Obama’s trip included remembrances of great leaders and reflections on history, but was largely absent of the typical cultural scenes: no safaris, no dancing, no posing with tribesmen.
That subdued tenor was to some extent a twist of timing. Obama’s trip came as Nelson Mandela lay gravely ill in a Pretoria hospital and much of South Africa was consumed by news of his condition and ugly disputes between the Mandela family members.
But the aura of earnestness was also a nod to the reality of tight economic times. With the U.S. economy still in a slump, the White House was mindful about the appearance of staging trips that look like vacations. As officials finalized Obama’s plan, The Washington Post reported that the trip could cost between $60 million and $100 million, a reflection of the massive security operation that envelops the president in the postSept. 11 era. The report put the White House on high alert for images that might be seen as frivolous globetrotting.
The president’s visit included only flashes of Obama’s ties to the continent. As he arrived in Tanzania on Monday, he noted, “Obviously, my family on my father’s side is from East Africa. They spent some time actually in Tanzania.”
But he did not explain further. His father was born and is buried in Kenya. His step-grandmother still lives there. On the trip, Obama said Kenyans could say he had broken a promise, if he did not visit as president in the next three years, but he did not promise to do so.