It was only a matter of time.
The BBC reports today on the presidential election in Benin, a small west African country, one of the poorest in the world (a Failed State). After 25 years in power, President Mathieu Kerekou is forced to step aside because of a constitutional provision preventing septuagenarians from running for office.
Kerekou, a former Marxist turned multi-party reformer (one of many such animals in Africa, none of whom have improved matters in their countries in all their years in power) and winner of numerous fraudulent and non-transparent elections in his country, had hoped, he says, that this election would be transparent, and would be free and fair. Sadly, he doesn’t feel this will happen. He said there would probably be attempts to rig the vote, which just might count as a frank admission that he plans to have his own party try to steal the election. But, in the interest of being the bigger man, the father-figure, the George Washington (or at least the James Madison) of his country, he decided to make things look better by comparing his country against… us.
“If necessary,” said Mr. Kerekou, “it will take three or four months to check the results, like in the United States.”
The thing about being America is, the scum are watching us (and Mr. Kerekou is scum, recent changes of heart notwithstanding). They’re using our foibles to justify their own dirty deeds. I wonder how much more of this we should look forward to?
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