Obama 'another Nelson Mandela'

[LCBXX]

News24 Article

Cape Town - South Africa's speaker of Parliament was in tears at the US Consulate General's residence on Wednesday, as she compared US president-elect Barack Obama's win to Nelson Mandela's historic victory.

"I got the same feeling most non-South Africans got in 1994," said Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, calling him "another Nelson Mandela".

"If there is change in the US and hope in the US then there is hope for the entire world," she told News24 moments after embracing her American friends.

A crowd of about 150 prominent South Africans and Americans living in Cape Town gathered at the residence in Bishopscourt at 05:00 to watch the election unfold.

Whahaha, this woman has worryingly little knowledge of history and politics of she draws this comparison. Like someone on the comments of the article said "Certain South Africans only sees a black face and rejoices".

Then again, one should expect ridiculous statements like this from certain members of Parliament.

 

[Metal Gear!?]

That's pretty over-the-top but this is a historic occasion and he is a very charismatic leader.

 

[Pitbull]

WTF

I will honestly say this with all due respect to everyone.

Obama won his right from the start. He wasn't a compromise candidate, he wasn't put in that possition because of global pressure.

The Amrican People voted him in to power from all walks of life. For him to get into that possition 1/2 of the white America had to vote for him too

You can not put him in the same league as Mandela

 

[dlk001]

I think its more about comparing Obama's win to Madiba's victory than saying Obama is another Mandela.

 

[killadoob]

Well what Obama has done is better than mandela, had this country been dominated by whites mandela would never have been elected, Obama has done the amazing if you ask me.

Nelson is a great man because he never slaughtered all the whites and sought peace rather than revenge. After 27 years in jail i am not sure i would done the same.

 

[PeterCH]

Well what Obama has done is better than mandela, had this country been dominated by whites mandela would never have been elected, Obama has done the amazing if you ask me.

Nelson is a great man because he never slaughtered all the whites and sought peace rather than revenge. After 27 years in jail i am not sure i would done the same.

Mandela did not win a war. He was part of a negotiated settlement. The NP had a referendum in ?1992 to decide if they were to negotiate with the ANC
towards power sharing and full elections. If Mandela demanded death from
all the whites at that stage, there would have been no hand over. The Soviet Union was fscked and couldn't help the ANC and Europe/US would not
support the ANC if they wanted to kill whites. In fact they would provide
financial and military aid to the NP if that was the case. So the point is,
Mandela had no choice, even though I'm not saying he'd want the whites dead, it was not his place to be greatly merciful. It was the reality, he had no choice.

 

[RazedInBlack]

Who's your mama! Barrack Obama!

 

[Alan]

ROFL

 

[Morgoth]

lets face it american candidates was a woman, a black or a wack,
Just saw a new topic on BBC saying the world might expect to much from Obama, we will have to see if he cant cope his out in 4 years time XD

 

[krycor]

what was she smoking?

 

[Slaine73]

Obama may be just what America needs, but only time will tell. But please how can she compare him to Neslon Mandela??!!
Just another bloody idiot of parliament. Obama has done nothing so far as to come near to the league of Nelson Mandela

 

[Devill]

Well what Obama has done is better than mandela, had this country been dominated by whites mandela would never have been elected, Obama has done the amazing if you ask me.

Nelson is a great man because he never slaughtered all the whites and sought peace rather than revenge. After 27 years in jail i am not sure i would done the same.

Well said

 

[Metal Gear!?]

what was she smoking?

Besides the unnecessary Madiba comparison, I don't see the problem with anything she said?

 

[semiautomatix]

Did Obama spend 27 years in prison too?

 

[LCBXX]

Besides the unnecessary Madiba comparison, I don't see the problem with anything she said?

In two days time she would probably claim to have been "quoted out of context" - the classic explanation for anything ridiculous said by any SA political figure.

 

[Alan]

Did Obama spend 27 years in prison too?

No just 20 years in a bigoted cesspool

Lets be fair it's not only ANC comrades crying. Castro, Charvez, Glowing Ahemi, Putin, Mugabe and {insert tyrant here} are all weeping with joy. Pity it all came too late for Saddam

 

[Metal Gear!?]

In two days time she would probably claim to have been "quoted out of context" - the classic explanation for anything ridiculous said by any SA political figure.

Well I mean, I personally think she could've picked a better person for comparison but her point is not ludicrous and she doesn't really have to issue an apology. She was trying to get across how Obama's victory affected her in a similar way as the birth of our democracy did.

 

[TheHiveMind]

The comparrison is not about Obama and Mandela. Its a comparrison of them being elected. But I think its a poor comparrison. What makes Obama's case different is that the white masses of the most powerful country in the world voted for a different race. Thats a big deal, and one step closer to removing the relevance of race.

If Mandela was white, this comparrison would be more accurate IMO

OR

If the majority of whites had voted for Mandela. They did not.

 

[Metal Gear!?]

The comparrison is not about Obama and Mandela. Its a comparrison of them being elected. But I think its a poor comparrison. What makes Obama's case different is that the white masses of the most powerful country in the world voted for a different race. Thats a big deal, and one step closer to removing the relevance of race. If Mandela was white, this comparrison would be more accurate IMO

They were both incidents in history which signalled hope and change, so the comparison is valid on that level. If another white president had been elected it wouldn't have been anything new, instead South Africa had its first ever black president just like America has today.

 

[TheHiveMind]

They were both incidents in history which signalled hope and change, so the comparison is valid on that level. If another white president from the tiny white minority had been elected that would just have been a continuation of the white rule, instead South Africa had its first ever black president just like America has today.

Actually, reading back, I agree with what you said before. This is a comparrison about how she felt about both events and not really a comparrison of anything else.