Senator Obama Received Warmly in Kenya (NYT) [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/world/africa/25cnd-kenya.html?ex=1157169600&en=c305e85012f07c65&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE

Senator Obama Received Warmly in Kenya



By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: August 25, 2006

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug. 25 — If Senator Barack Obama is ever thinking of running for president — or changing careers to rock star — he got excellent practice in Nairobi today.

Thousands of people lined the streets here, waiting hours in the intense sunshine just for a glimpse of him.

Local newspapers overflowed with breathless coverage, including the headline, “Village beats the drums for returning son.”

Everywhere he went, he had to part a sea of shutter-snapping journalists and starry-eyed fans.


Senator Barack Obama in Nairobi today during a visit to the memorial to the 248 people killed in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy.


A riot nearly broke out when he slipped past his bodyguards at a downtown event and simply smiled at the neck-craning crowd.