Later, back in the US, 2008 presidential candidate John McCain
who was looking for an excuse to blame, so frantically, a man who defeated him,
Barack Obama, by comparing him to Hitler
conciliator for shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at Nelson
Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa.
But McCain knows better than anyone that diplomacy sometimes
means shaking hands with repressive autocrats. Take, for example, former Libyan
dictator Muammar Gadhafi. McCain visited Gadhafi in Tripoli with other
lawmakers on a diplomatic mission in 2009 for an interesting hangout he
described on Twitter.
It is so blindingly obvious that John McCain remains bitter
and unreconciled for his election defeat Obama. He still holds grudges for his
election loss and walking around with his wound carrying the splinter in his
hand waiting for the moment to throw it back to the man who he called ’that
one’. “O McCain you’ve done it again”!
McCain needs to learn from Nelson Mandela who has been hailed
as ‘the last great liberator’, who warned leaders, “If you want to make peace
with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner”.
“…The primary significance of Mandela and King was not their
willingness to lock arms or hold hands with their enemies. It was their
unshakable resolve to do whatever was necessary to bring those enemies to their
knees. . . . “- Richard Price
Barack Obama gave his most illuminating and enchanting
eulogy to the South African people for a man who thought us how to deal with
our enemies, preserve democracy and the rule of law.
He told the world leaders and others in charge of
responsibilities, “And so we, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many people who happily embrace
Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest
reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim
solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from
their own people. And there are too many
of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices
must be heard”.
Former US presidents and other countries’ leaders present at
the tribute stadium astounded and had a stern look on their faces. Then, he
continued telling the rapturous crowd, “The questions we face today -- how to
promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to
end conflict and sectarian war -- these things do not have easy answers. But there were no easy answers in front of
that child born in World War I. Nelson
Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done”.
Then, instead of using one of his own ‘yes we can’ truism, He
reminded everyone to cherish Madiba’s mantra for life: “I have fought against
white domination and I have fought against black domination. I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and
free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I
hope to live for and to achieve. But if
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Posts
