++President Obama received a rousing welcome in Soweo this morning and delivered one of his finest speeches in a while. Calling Mandela,"The Last Great Liberator of the 20th Century", he recalled the flesh and blood man and invoked the lessons Mandela's life and struggle teach us. Perhaps there was no better American to address the crowd because his first political actions were in the anti-apartheid cause. He referred to Martin Luther King's struggle against an oppressive system as well as Mahatma Gandhi liberation struggle. Particularly telling for the audience was his invocation of the Sisulus and the Tambos,lesser known but still significant fighters against apartheid. He chided modern politicians who will not tolerate dissidents and he called on the assembled leaders to continue the fight for racial just, against poverty and global economic reform. He said that Mandela's task was "to free not just the prisoner but the jailor as well."
++By all accounts, Obama's speech was the highlight of the memorial. Naturally,his critics found something to chastise him for. Marco Rubio blasted his shaking hand with Raul Casto without lecturing him on civil liberties in Cuba. John McCain called the handshake with Castro like Neville Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler. But McCain didn't refrain from blasting out a photo of him shaking hands with Qaddafhi. Obama also was criticized for talking a "selfie" of himself, the Danish Prime Minister and Prime Minister Cameron.
++Meanwhile, the South African audience jeered George W. Bush and cheered whenever Robert Mugabe's name was mentioned. They also boo'ed the current President Jacob Zuma.
++A sobering fact: 3,000 political prisoners went through Robben Island in the thirty years Nelson Mandela was there.
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