Opinion
US Presidential Elections and Liberian Affairs 1980-2012: A Personal Reflection.
By Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore II, USA.
I write about the United States presidential elections covering 1980-2012 based on my recollections taken primarily from my personal journal and memoir. I tried to include the role each US administration had played regarding Liberia and the events which occurred during the period covered. As a student of history and political science, I wrote on the events for historical documentation and reference.
Election of 1980
Jimmy Carter, a democrat and former Governor of Georgia, became president of America after his defeat of Gerald Ford in 1976. Ford, who was Nixon’s vice president, became president after Nixon’s impeachment due to Watergate. Ford was selected by Nixon for the vice presidency because of the forced resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was charged with bribery and kickbacks. The American people had lost trust in the Republican Party leadership of the country.
In the 1980 election, Carter faced Ronald Reagan, former republican Governor of California and a Hollywood actor. Carter was a strong member of the Baptist Church and a man with deep Christian principles. While he was well liked internationally because of his human rights foreign policy, domestically the US economy was not performing well. Inflation and unemployment were up in double digits. The price of housing rose, making the purchase of housing difficult. The Iran government stopped shipping oil to the United States. This created a shortage of oil and long gas lines. Moreover, the Americans held hostage in Iran was having a negative impact on the Carter government. Though he tried to rescue the hostages and the effort failed, he was powerless and was viewed as a weak president. On the other hand, Reagan was viewed as a “cowboy politician”, a gun slinger who did not understand foreign affairs and might get the US involved in a war. His economic platform was called “Voodoo Economics” by George Bush, who was his opponent in the primary for the republican nomination.
The Carter administration played an important role in Liberian affairs. The Tolbert government was facing strong opposition from the progressive elements. The Tolbert regime was also developing strong relations with the East and with other nations besides the US. It broke diplomatic ties with Israel. Meanwhile, the government’s domestic behavior, like those of past regimes, was repressive. It killed unarmed demonstrators during the rice riot and buried them in a mass grave. This act did not sit well internationally. Progressive Liberians in the United States, under the umbrella of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA), staged protests in major US cities. ULAA interrupted Tolbert three times during his speech at the UN General Assembly in 1979. I was part of the group that entered the UN Assembly. The idea came to me while we were demonstrating outside the UN. I discussed it with Tambokai Jangaba, ULAA leader. We divided the group into three sections. Nyudueh Morkonmana headed the first, Blamoh Seekie the second and I headed the third. We entered the assembly as audience guests. Each section interrupted the speech three minutes after the other. Tolbert stopped his speech at each interruption. He was embarrassed. He never experienced this before. We were arrested after the interruption and released.
Despite the embarrassment, Tolbert willingly met with ULAA representatives in Washington at the Liberian embassy, the ambassador’s residence. There Charles Taylor exercised fearlessness: he stood up, looked at Tolbert in the eyes and boldly said: “We are not here to play games. We mean business”! Tolbert was speechless, he just looked at Taylor. The president and ULAA came to an agreement. ULAA would send a delegation to Liberia at the government’s expense. The government would guarantee the delegation security, free movement and freedom of speech. Tolbert kept the promise. Taylor headed the delegation. Unlike the other members of the delegation who came back immediately after the mission, Taylor did not return to the states until later. At the same time, in Liberia, the government was faced with possible bankruptcy under the watch of Finance Minister Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, now President of Liberia.
Prior to her appointment as finance minister, in the late 1970s, Ms. Sirleaf came to the US to work for the World Bank. We became good and close friends. She was kind and understanding, and a no-nonsense woman. She freely spoke her mind, but kept a grudge in her heart for those who opposed her or have disagreement with her. She capitalized on events for personal interests. We spoke nearly daily on the phone. In many of our conversations, she was critical of the Tolbert government, calling it corrupt, repressive, and dictatorial. Then I stopped hearing from her for two weeks or so. I was concerned. I was disappointed when I learned that with all the criticisms, she was quietly negotiating with Tolbert to take a position with the government. Moreover, while minister of finance, she had her children on government scholarship at a time the country was financially broke. The children at times would go to the Finance Office on Pennsylvania Avenue, DC to use the office phone to call her. I lost confidence in her as a matter of principle. I did not see her for a long time until at a meeting she had with Dew Mayson at the Embassy Row Hotel in Washington, DC one Saturday afternoon. Dew was my guest and was in Washington for a conference with the World Bank on the Bank funded project, which he was managing or directing at the National Investment Commission in Liberia. Though I did not want to go with him for his meeting with Ms. Sirleaf, Dew insisted that I accompany him. I did.
She was surprised to see me as she greeted us at her hotel door. She could not look me in the eyes. She was embarrassed for her hypocrisy. After the meeting on our way home, Dew asked me if there was any problem between me and Ellen. “She asked me in our private talk in her suite why did I bring you with me”, Dew said, adding, “I thought you and her were good friends,” he inquired. I was quiet for few seconds and answered, “The woman is not real”. I did not go into detail. But this was a person who criticized the Tolbert government, calling Tolbert all kinds of names and then turned around taking a position from Tolbert and becoming a part of the very same corruption which she had criticized.
But to Sirleaf’s credit, while she was Finance Minister, a young man named Mulbah, whom I worked with at a community development agency, asked me to recommend him to Sirleaf for a job. Mulbah was the controller at the agency and wanted to return home. I recommended him and Sirleaf answered positively. Though at first I hesitated writing her, I wrote because I felt that I should not, because of my personal disagreement and disappointment with her, deprive a qualified Liberian an opportunity to return home to contribute to Liberia’s development. Mulbah returned to Liberia and worked for the government.
Faced with financial difficulties and socio-political problems at home, the Tolbert government, through its embassy in DC, hired a US consulting firm to find out what America was thinking regarding the government. In a confidential report, the firm stated that the US was not happy with the Tolbert regime, particularly its human rights record and the historical injustices on the Liberian natives by the ruling Congo elites. But to Tolbert, he was doing his best for reforms; to the elites, he was going too far and too lenient; and to the progressives, he was not doing enough.
Tolbert sided with the ruling True Whig Party establishment and jailed leaders of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL), an advocacy group originated in the US. PAL was led by the late Gabriel Matthew and other progressives, including Samuel Jackson, Marcus Dahn and Oscar Quiah. In Tolbert’s last address to the Liberian Legislature, Tolbert vowed to be tough, rough and mean. On April 12, 1980, non-commissioned officers led by Master Sargent Samuel K. Doe toppled the Tolbert government. Doe, a native Liberian, came from the Kran tribe. The coup, a revolution, brought about the end of Americo-Liberian/Congo minority rule in Liberia. The Americo-Liberians, former Black slaves from America, ruled and oppressed the native majority for over 130 years. The Congos, recaptured Africans from the Niger-Congo delta, were brought to Liberia later and they joined the Americo-Liberians in the oppression. The settlers felt, and most of their descendants still feel, that Liberia belonged to them and they should always rule, even though they were less than 10% of the country’s population.
The coup was a drastic change of the order of things. With its many contradictions, the change gave birth to multi-party democracy now practiced in the country. Some Liberians blamed the United States for the demise of the Tolbert regime. Some wondered why Carter, a Baptist, could not help a fellow Baptist minister, President Tolbert. Some observers made reference to Tolbert’s hard effort to have Carter visit Liberia on Carter’s trip from Nigeria. But others pointed out the human rights foreign policy of the Carter administration and the systematic alienation and suppression of native Liberians as a factor. D. Elwood Dunn, a Liberian historian and an expert on US – Liberia relations, indicated that the Doe regime was viewed by the US as a symbol of the new Liberian reality saying Doe “comes from the ranks of the alienated indigenous majority that deserve support in furthering of democracy in Liberia."
Some Liberian progressives in the diaspora returned to Liberia to work for the new government, The People Redemption Council (PRC). I was working with Fannie Mae as a contractor in the Office of Corporate Planning during that time. I went to Liberia shortly after the coup for a consulting assignment. I met with some members of the military, mainly Doe and Thomas Quiwonkpa and some of the progressives, including Tipoteh, Dew Mayson and Charles Taylor. Tipoteh was then Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, Dew was Chairman of the National Investment Commission (NIC) and Taylor was head of the Government Services Administration (GSA). The PAL leadership also became officials of the PRC regime. Matthew became Foreign Minister, Jackson, Deputy Minister for Commerce and Quiah, Minister for Local Government. I observed a problem developing, not so much with the military, but with the progressives --- The military talked of the evils of the Tolbert government, the suffering of the Liberian masses, but had no plan or blueprint where it wanted the country to go. Doe was energetic, talked militantly but was vulnerable.
There was an animosity between the progressive group at home and those from abroad. The former took positions in the new regime as ministers, while the latter, most of them, got jobs as advisors to the PRC legislature and special assistants to the head of state. The late Tambakai Jangaba, founding father of ULAA, returned home. In his new position as advisor to the PRC, he told me his frustration. “When I came home the comrades here made me to feel like I was not a Liberian. Some asked me when I was going back." Jangaba was not only a leader of ULAA, he was one of the best Liberian writers and organizers in the diaspora. His writing and organizational skills transformed the communication from the PRC legislature to the civilian cabinet. The group at home saw their comrades from abroad as “Johnnies Just Come." Some of my friends at home feared and thought that my meeting with Doe was to seek a job. I tried to go above the fray and did not entertain their fear or insecurity.
I left Liberia upon completion of my work to finish my thesis. I took a job with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Office of Economic Affairs upon my return. However, few years after completion of my studies in planning, the late Quiwonkpa met me in DC and offered me the position of Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs. I did not accept nor refuse the offer. Shortly after, Quiwonkpa and Doe fell out. Quiwonkpa was no longer Commanding General. He died in the first invasion. I was surprised later when I learned that Quiwonkpa married a close relative of mine. His wife, Tarloh Munah Quiwonkpa, is a daughter of my aunty, the late Mary Nyanfore Wilson. She raised Tarloh as a child in Cape Palmas, Maryland County.
She was her second mother. In many of my telephone conversations with Quiwonkpa, we did not know of and discuss this connection during his tenure as Commander General. Quiwonkpa and his family later went into exile in the US. Tarloh stated that while they were in Baltimore, Maryland, Sirleaf and Harry Yuan visited Quiwonkpa and wanted him to undertake the invasion, but he refused. “Thomas just wanted to attend school and did not want anything to do with invasion. He had enrolled at the Baltimore Community College”, Tarlop indicated. However, when Sirleaf and Yuan returned and brought a picture of Quiwonkpa’s mother, saying that Doe’s soldiers have beaten, raped and tortured her, Quiwonkpa was angry and hence agreed to lead the invasion. Unfortunately after Quiwonkpa’s death, Sirleaf and her associates forgot about the Quiwonkpa family, except during election time she reached out to Quiwonkpa’s children in Liberia apparently for votes from Nimba, Quiwonkpa’s birthplace, the second largest county — a vote rich region in Liberia. Tarloh and Celue Doe, a daughter of the late Samuel Doe, are working together in the US for peace and reconciliation efforts for Liberia, starting with the people of Nimba and Doe’s birthplace Grand Geda.
Back in the states in the 1980 election, Carter led in most polls during the campaign particularly in October. But Reagan won their one and only debate in the last week of October. During the debate, Reagan asked the American people if they were better off “than four years ago”. For most Americans, they were not. On Election Day while on his way in Air Force One to vote in Georgia, Carter’s staff informed him that he would lose. He hugged his wife and cried. Reagan won the election.
Election of 1984
In the 1984 election, Reagan faced Walter Mondale, former vice president under Carter. Before becoming vice president, Mondale was a senator from Minnesota. He was a foreign policy expert. Reagan was a conservative leader and was backed by the American conservative establishment. The US economy was better than it was in the Carter administration. Also the US regained its leadership in the world and helped reshape the world, specifically Eastern Europe. Reagan led throughout the campaign. But in the first debate, Mondale buried him. The Mondale campaign however went flat and Reagan was reelected by landslide.
During the Reagan administration, the US increased its aid to Liberia. US gave Liberia direct and indirect aid between $500m to $1.3b in the 1980s. This was done primarily to arrest Doe’s growing friendship with Libya’s Kaddafi and Marxist Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia. The US ambassador to Liberia, William Swing, had good relations with Liberia. He travelled freely in the Liberian interior. President Samuel K. Doe visited the United States as a guest of Reagan and was well received. President Doe became a strong ally of the US. He closed down the Libyan Mission in Liberia and re-established diplomatic ties with Israel. Liberian foreign policy followed the tone of the US. For instance, Liberia boycotted Kaddafi when Kaddafi became chairman of the OAU, because the Reagan administration considered the Libyan leader a terrorist. Reagan bombed Libya.
Doe did not have a good human rights record at home. The Doe regime “grew increasingly corrupt and [it became] repressive, banning political opposition and shutting down newspapers”. On the other hand, during Doe’s reign, housing stats increased and the market flourished. He brought development to Liberia, i.e. the construction of roads and government ministries, the improvement of the Liberian electorate system. UN data indicated that in the 9 years of his administration, Liberian literacy rate quadrupled more than the rate under Tubman and Tolbert combined. Tubman was president for 27 years and Tolbert 9 years. Comparing Doe with other Liberian heads of state, some observers say that he brought more development to Liberia than the other leaders, considering his level of education and time in power.
Election of 1988
The 1988 election was between Reagan Vice President George W. H. Bush and Michael Dukakis, who was then governor of Massachusetts. Dukakis is a graduate of Harvard, a lawyer and a good debater. His running mate was Texan Senator Lloyd Benson. Dukakis wanted to repeat the Kennedy-Johnson two-some of 1960 election. Bush was a loyal vice president. Prior to becoming VP, he was a congressman, an ambassador and director of the CIA. He chose as his running mate young senator Dan Quayle. This was a surprise to many Americans, for Quayle was little known nationally. The democratic ticket started on a “good running foot”. It had some of the best minds in campaign operation. Dukakis led in the earlier polls and won, I would say, all of the debates. But the republican campaign had defined him as weak on defense, stiff, indecisive and emotionless. In one of the debates, moderator Bernard King of CNN asked him what he would do if his wife were raped. Dukakis showed no emotion and answered like a judge deciding on a case. The Willie Horton and the Revolving Door attack Ads also hurt Dukakis, showing that he was lenient on crime. He lost the election. The loss was a heart breaker.
During the Bush administration, and part of the Reagan reign, the Liberian political situation reached a boiling point. Opponents of President Doe utilized many means to remove him from power. Some of his earlier compatriots including few progressives had joined forces with some former True Whig Party elites residing in the US. They planned and financed the first invasion led by Quiwonkpa and the second invasion headed by former ULAA leader Charles Taylor, a convicted criminal who was jailed and escaped prison in Massachusetts. The second invasion was successful; and it turned into a full civil war. Some American lawmakers did not know what to make of the invasion.
On January 19, 1990, one of the war financiers, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, addressed the US Congressional Africa Subcommittee in support of the uprising. She said in part that the uprising symbolized “a civil war which encompasses regions of the country where more than two thirds of the Liberian people live and the greatest resources are located. The people, many of them children, have joined this struggle for freedom with little courage and hope for the future”. She added that Samuel Doe regime must go – “the mandate must pass to Charles Taylor who must in turn commence the process toward democracy."
Doe sent a delegation led by Counselor Winston Tubman to America to talk to US officials. But the trip was unsuccessful. In September 1990, the Prince Johnson forces killed Doe. The country went into a state of anarchy. The Bush government did nothing to save the country, though Liberia is considered an “American Stepchild”, and though Liberia had been in support of the United States since the birth of the Liberian nation in 1847.
Amos Sawyer, a former professor and a progressive, was elected in Banjul, the Gambbia, as interim president of Liberia. Sawyer was member of ACDL, the group, which campaigned in the US for Doe removal. United States provided assistance for the interim administration. The West African countries sent troops for peace keeping. Bill Berkeley, while giving credits to Sawyer, also described the Sawyer government as follows: “It includes a handful of scholarly idealists like Sawyer at the top, and by all accounts a great many opportunists and profiteers, many of them holdovers from the past, who are milking the stalemate, embezzling millions." The country was divided; Taylor controlled one part and Sawyer the other. Taylor was a hired gun gone wild. He was to provide only the military solution for ACDL, of which Sirleaf was an active member. Mutual associates, Sawyer and Taylor exchanged their respective private phone numbers with each other. The goal was Sawyer and Taylor, old friends, to privately talk to find way to end the fighting. But in many of their conversations, they discussed about old and new girls friends. Berkeley said both leaders later acknowledged that the war would have ended quickly had the US intervened. The question is why couldn’t they, as Liberians, end the fighting on their own?
The late Tarty Teh said that Sawyer violated the Liberian constitution by structuring an interim government and becoming the head. Teh argued that Vice President Harry Moniba should have become president after Doe’s death, according to the constitution. Sawyer should have known better, Teh maintained, because Sawyer helped write the constitution and should have defended it instead of benefiting from it by misinterpreting it. Teh was one of Sirleaf’s strongest critics until his death. He never wavered in his advocacy.
Sawyer had all the recipes or the ingredients to become the “Abraham Lincoln of Liberia”. He was an honest man, came from a humble background, educated and down to earth. He could have, like Lincoln, united the nation and done whatever necessary to end the war. Yet he was indecisive, ineffective and failed miserably, despite his high education and professorship in political science. He alienated others, especially his own, to make room in his administration for people with unscrupulous characters. He was, like most Liberian past leaders, a womanizer and put personal interest above that of the nation. So the war dragged on – 14 years –about 250,000 people died! He appeared to have lost his compass and is now like other progressives holding government positions and cannot say and cannot do what is right.
Back to the US, under the Bush administration, the American economy took a down turn. Bush had promised during the campaign not to increase taxes. He said, “Read my lips, no more taxes”. He did not keep that promise. He raised taxes, and unemployment and inflation rose. The American people were mad, the middle class was hurting. He went to war with Iraq, in what is known as the first gulf war. Though the American public supported the war, it further harmed the economy.
Election of 1992
In the election of 1992, Bush faced William J. Clinton, governor of Arkansas. Clinton was relatively unknown nationally. His mother was a nurse and his biological father was an auto parts salesman. The father died in a car accident three months before Clinton’s birth. Clinton was raised by his stepfather, Roger Clinton, whose name he carries. Clinton was not born of wealth. From a town called Hope in Arkansas, he attended public school and met late president John Kennedy as a boy. It was said that Kennedy inspired him; and young Clinton dreamed of being president one day.
I volunteered for Clinton in that election. I did primarily because Clinton graduated from Georgetown University, my Alma mater. We both attended the university’s Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service. Professor Carroll Quigley is said to have had influence on him. Dr. Quigley taught “The Evolution of Civilizations”, one of the hardest courses at GU. We would prepare for Dr. Quigley’s test for a week or two. Professor Quigley was also one of Dew Mayson’s best teachers. Dew was a senior student at Georgetown and spokesman on African Affairs on campus during the Black Students movement. He passed Quigley’s course with flying color. We were fraternal brothers at GU and later became progressive comrades in the struggle for justice in Liberia. Clinton was active in the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the 60s as a student. In the sixties, America experienced a cultural revolution.
The African American population had regained its African cultural pride. Concerned African Americans, students, church leaders, including Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, demanded civil and human rights and opposed the war. African clothes, the dashiki, and the Afro hairdo became fashionable. Black Americans were proud of being Black. All these events also helped shape my own cultural and political thinking as a teenager attending high school in America.
Before Clinton’s decision to seek the presidency, he underwent self-transformation: though he is a Methodist by birth, he was in the Pentecostal church, which is strong in prayer and in the Holy Ghost. Just after Bush’s victory over Dukakis, Clinton and other democrats met in Washington, DC and tried to map out a strategy to re-capture the White House. The Republican Party had won three conservative presidential elections. The democrats were determined now to win the next presidential election. Clinton became head of the Democratic Leadership Council and started retuning the party leadership.
When Clinton publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency, he was not taken seriously. He was at the bottom of the primary for the democrat nomination. But Clinton came from behind to win the nomination and earned the name “the comeback kid.” He chose Al Gore, former senator from Tennessee, as his running mate. Gore had run unsuccessfully in the primary.
In the national campaign, strategists John Carville, Paul Bogala and many of Dukakis staff, including George Stephanopoulos, worked for the Clinton campaign. Unlike Dukakis, the Bush campaign could not define Clinton. Clinton’s rapid response team headed by the three strategists replied every statement by the Bush camp in minutes. In the debates, with third party candidate Ross Perot, Clinton won the last two debates. Perot won the first. Clinton led in the polls throughout the campaign. He easily won the election by landslide.
I had the privilege to work with the Clinton’s presidential transition team in the area of international communication. Clinton received hundreds of congratulatory statements and correspondence internationally. One particular communication, which came to my attention, was from a young leader of a Latin American country, congratulating Clinton and advising him to institute necessary changes without fear and to listen to his inner spirit. “Be truthful”, he stated. The man briefly talked about his own experience, the difficulties encountered and successes in bringing needed changes to his country. It was a candid advice.
I was proud in Clinton inaugural ceremony, when Maya Angelou acknowledged in her poem, “On the pulse of morning”, the contribution which the Kru or Krio people had made in Africa and in the world. It was good to hear and to be proud of the good things our people have done and to recognize their accomplishments. Some in the Liberian society here credited me for the inclusion of the Kru contribution in the poem. I played no role in that. Before becoming a famous poet, Maya Angelou had lived in Africa and was well informed and aware of the contributions of African ethnic groups to the world. The Kru is also a linguistic group comprising the Bassa, Grebo, Kran, Dey and the Kru or Krio tribes. They are part of the Kwa cultural people.
Clinton encountered difficulties in the first half of his administration. The economy was not improving, though the democrats controlled both houses of congress. The American people expressed their displeasure of the condition and voted the democrats out of the control of the lower house. Under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, the republicans made a contract with America to make things better. Newt Gingrich became the Speaker of the House. But in a tactical mistake, the republican congress shut down the government. Federal offices were closed down for days. Gingrich lost his speakership and his position as a member of congress.
Election of 1996
At the end of Clinton first administration, the economy started to improve. Unemployment decreased. Private sector jobs grew. In the election of 1996, democrats re-nominated Clinton for their standard bearer for a second term. He faced Senator Bob Dole from Kansas. Dole, a war veteran, was the minority leader in the senate. Clinton led in the polls most part of the campaign. He won the debates and the election handily.
In his second term, the economy improved further. Unemployment reduced 5.21%. However, Clinton faced a most serious problem. Charges were levied against him of sexual misconducts, particularly and critically damaging of which was that by Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. He denied the accusation. It was proven that Clinton had sexual relation with the intern. The US House of Representatives impeached him, but he survived in the senate. The misconduct and the impeachment affected Clinton’s image despite his economic accomplishments. Yet he was still popular with the American people. Most Americans did not want him be impeached, according to public polls. Some men argued that Clinton did what most men would do. However, the fact was that he was president, president of the world greatest nation. His moral behavior matters. He misused his power and position, and that was wrong.
Clinton foreign policy played little role in Liberian affairs.
Taylor became president of Liberia. US reduced aid to Liberia. The relation encountered setbacks when Taylor moved to improve friendship with and provide assistance to the RUF, a rebel group in Sierra Leone. RUF massacred thousands of the Sierra Lone people in its quest for power. Through US effort and that of other concerned countries, the UN imposed embargo on Liberian timber industry, as logs and blood diamond money were used for Taylor’s war goal. Rev. Jessie Jackson, friend of Bill Clinton and friend of Taylor, became Taylor’s public relations agent. He became the go between regarding US-Liberia relations. He made Clinton to call Taylor during Clinton’s African trip. Jackson was accused of receiving diamonds from Taylor for the PR work. The National Krao Association in the Americas, an organization of Kru residing in US, expressed concern about the Liberian situation. Under its leader Swako Nagbe, the association wrote Clinton about the Liberian situation. Though Clinton replied positively, no known action was taken.
Election of 2000
As stated earlier, although the Clinton administration brought prosperity to the US, his moral misbehavior put a cloud on his political legacy. It helped create what the republicans called the “Clinton Fatigue”, meaning the Americans were tried with the Clinton administration. The republicans saw the 2000 election as a chance for the people to make a break from the Clinton era to a new leadership under the Republican Party. The election of 2000 was, to me, the closest and the most controversial election ever in US presidential election history. A month after the votes were cast and counted, there was not a declared winner.
The 2000 election was between Al Gore, the democrat and George H. Bush, the republican. Al Gore had been a loyal vice president under Clinton. But during the campaign he somewhat distanced himself from Clinton, in fear of being identified with Clinton social misbehavior. In his nomination accepted address, Gore stated that he was his own man. The Democratic Party rallied around him for continual control of the White House. He picked Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as his VP running mate.
George Bush, son of former president George W.H. Bush, was governor of Texas and part owner of the Texas Rangers, a baseball team. He is a Harvard Business School graduate. Besides his education and the governorship, many people did not consider him a very bright man. The late Ann Richards, a democrat and former governor of Texas, called him a man born “with silver spoon”. Bush chose as his running mate former Congressman Dick Cheney.
Both candidates were statistically closed in the national polls throughout the campaign, though Al Gore had a slight edge. Al Gore won the three debates. But it was up and down in the electoral polls. No one could definitely tell who would win. November 7th, Election Day, I wrote in my journal, “today, the day of truth.” I returned home from work early to hear the early returns or the press coverage. When the votes started coming in by 10 PM, I was at edge in my chair. CBS called Florida for Gore. I said then to myself that the election was over. But later the call was taken back. By mid night the network called in Florida for Bush. Florida was the state to win for the 270 electoral votes. I went to bed after Bush was pronounced the next president by the network. Even though Al Gore won the national votes, he did not win the electoral votes. Had he won his own state Tennessee, Florida would not have matter. Also third party candidate Ralph Nader took votes away from Gore in Florida. When I woke up that morning, my niece told me that the election was not over. I asked what happened.
What happened was that Gore first called Bush to congratulate him for the victory. On Gore’s way to address his democratic supporters, he was informed in his car that according to Florida law, for a closed vote as such, the losing candidate can call for a recount. Gore then called Bush back and took back the early concession. The Al Gore campaign called for a recount in the Florida ballots. As the recall was going on, Bush camp took the matter to court to stop the recount. Though the Florida Supreme Court decided for continuation of the recount, the US Supreme Court stopped it and later voted to award the presidency to Bush. Al Gore accepted the decision and pledged his support to Bush for the good of the country.
Election of 2004
The democrats were disappointed for losing the 2000 election. In the election of 2004, John Kerry, senator from Massachusetts won the democratic nomination. Kerry came from behind to win the nomination after defeating former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. George Bush was nominated by the republicans for the second term. Many Americans blamed the Supreme Court for giving him the presidency. Moreover, the economy was not improving during his first term. But the 911 terrorist attacks gave him support as Americans rallied around their leader during time of national crisis.
Kerry was neither Clinton nor Al Gore. He was a Vietnam War veteran and a hero. He selected John Edwards as his VP candidate. Edward is a lawyer and was a former senator from South Carolina. He unsuccessfully ran in the democratic primary. Kerry made his war credential a focus point of his campaign. However, the Bush team was able to define him as a man who would do and say anything to be president, a flip flopper. Also the “Swift Boat”, a group of Vietnam veterans, campaigned against him, disputing his war heroism.
The election went down to the wire. Though Bush had a small edge, the polls were dead heat. The candidates were also closed in the electoral votes. Kerry won the debates, which improved his polls nationally. Florida and Ohio became the main states to win. A day or two before election, Osama Bin Laden broadcasted to the American people that neither Bush nor Kerry would help them. This brought back the memory of 911. To most voters, the country needed a strong leader who would protect their national security. President Bush immediately addressed the American people and reassured that as commander in chief, he would defend and protect them. He had thus rightful utilized the office of the presidency to his advantage.
The republican base, particularly the religious right or the evangelicals, was energized and enthusiastic to vote. Kerry campaign had carried out voting drives among the youths. But young people do not usually turnout and vote. On Election Day, Florida easily went to Bush. The votes for Ohio did not come in until the next morning. It went to Bush. Kerry camp wanted to call for a recount, but the republican big boys appealed to the late Edward Kennedy and other influential democrats to put pressure on Kerry to concede. Kerry did.
During the Bush two administrations, the economy took a down turn. Unemployment and inflation increased. The GDP was down. The United States also championed a war against Iraq. Though the UN did not approve the war, the US and her allies evaded, bombed the country and deposed the Saddam Hussein government. This war, like the first one carried out by his father, added to the US economic problem.
Like Clinton, the Bush administration did little for Liberia. Though he called for Charles Taylor to go and provided assistance for the institution and operation of a transitional government, the US embassy in Liberia refused to help desperate Liberians running to Graystone from the Taylor war. Forgetting US historical role in the creation of Liberia, and Liberia assistance to the US during the cold war, Bush wanted justifications to help the country. The following internal White House document, showing discussion between Bush, Colin Powell and another official, gives weight to this expression. “The President wanted to know what his options were in dealing with the Liberian crisis. “Why should I do something in Liberia?, he asked Colin and I. Because Liberia is ours”, I replied.
We talked about the history of the country that had been founded by freed American slaves. Even the Liberian flag imitates the Stars and Stripes” Colin added. The President was determined to do something about Liberia. The President reiterated that Taylor had to leave and said that the US would participate with troops”. The President had committed the US to a military role”.
Bush sent US Navy ships in Liberian sea water and US war planes displaying only their might. Yet the fighting continued and Liberians died. Bush administration wanted Taylor out and put pressure on the Sirleaf government to turn Taylor over after Taylor’s exile in Nigeria.
However, Sirleaf wanted Taylor’s people’s support in the 2005 election. Therefore, she initially expressed no position publicly on Taylor. She was willing to do whatever required to win. Intelligence information indicated that football legend George Weah was poised to win the election. But Washington knew little about Weah. For the “interest of the region”, it quietly supported the candidate whom it knew. Sirleaf is a Harvard graduate with impressive international work experience. Further, she has global contacts. An associate with strong Washington connection pointed out that Weah’s national popularity and lack of education at that time was feared to become a problem, as he could become a radical hero whom others in Africa could fellow.
Sirleaf made many promises to the Liberian people before and after the election, but fell short in meeting majority of them, including electrifying the country, bringing clean drinking water, improving the economy, fighting corruption and implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report. Unemployment in the country remains about 85 percent, despite US$17 billions coming into Liberia by foreign entities or investments. According to the Minister of Finance Amara Konneh, although the country has experienced 7% growth since 2003, it is growth without job development. This situation is similar to that of the Tubman’s era of “growth without development”. With the present administration, other analysts also see a decline in major sectors of the economy in addition to rising double digits inflation in food and transportation, all recording increased cost about 12% and 11% respectively. Moreover, there is an acute income disparity, as some government officials and elites make from US$10,000–US$25,000 monthly while civil servants on an average receive $100 a month. The average Liberian lives on less than one dollar a day. Most Liberians live in abject poverty. This vast economic inequality is troubling and risky. Corruption continues to actively exist in the country. Former Auditor General John Morlu has declared the administration “as three times corrupt than its predecessors."
The administration, however, has kept peace in the country with the presence of UN Peace Keeping Force and the willingness and patience of the Liberian people not to repeat war. The administration has supported free speech, a right often denied in previous regimes. Also, the government has achieved debt reduction effort, even though only the interest on the loans has been forgiven. But peace and security in the country, as others have noted, is fragile. The TRC was instituted after the 2005 election to help bring peace. However, the Sirleaf administration has failed to implement the TRC report primarily because the report calls for the banning of the president and others who were principally involved in the civil war from holding public office.
Prior to the 2005 election in Liberia and after Taylor departed for Nigeria, his vice president Moses Blah became president temporarily. Liberians met in Accra, Ghana to elect a transitional chairman. Those in the run for the position included Sirleaf, Tipoteh, Rudolph Johnson and Gyude Bryant. Sirleaf came to the US and met with Liberians at a hotel on M Street, NW, Washington, DC. Sirleaf criticized the election process that it was run not by Liberians but by foreigners. Because of this, “I will withdraw my candidacy for the chairmanship upon my return”, she said. A young man at the meeting stood up and applauded Sirleaf for the decision. But the man continued. “You should not run for any position in Liberia. You need to retire, become a private citizen”. Sirleaf was somewhat mad from her look but did not respond. When Sirleaf returned to Accra, she remained an active candidate. Bryant won. Some of the attendees of the DC meeting were surprised of Sirleaf’s move. I was not.
Election of 2008
In the United States Bush Vice President Cheney decided not to seek the 2008 election. The field was open for the republican candidates for the nomination. The candidates included John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. McCain won the nomination. To the surprise of most Americans, he picked Sarah Palin for his VP running mate. Palin was governor of Alaska. She was unknown nationally, but McCain was down in the polls and wanted to attract the women votes. Like the Republican Party, nomination for the Democratic Party presidential candidacy was wide open. The main candidates were Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Jerry Brown and Baraka Obama.
Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton, had name recognition, money and organization. She was a sitting senator from New York. Edwards had run with Kerry as indicated earlier. He had his previous ground organization. Joe Biden, a senator from Delaware, had run unsuccessfully many times for the nomination. Jerry Brown, governor of California, also had run unsuccessfully for the nomination in previous primaries. Baraka Obama, a first term US Senator from Illinois, was a little known candidate. His father was a Kenyan. Obama, upon graduation from Harvard Law School, worked as a community organizer in Chicago. He lost his race for the US House of Representatives. He later became a senator in the Illinois State Legislature. Obama made his name nationally when he served as the keynote speaker for the 2004 Democratic Party Convention. Despite the heavy weights in the primary, Obama won the nomination after a hard fought battle with Hillary. However, many of Hillary’s women supporters vowed not to support any other candidates if Hillary did not get the nomination. The democrats came together regardless and supported Obama in the campaign.
Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate. The team led though out the campaign exempt in the first two weeks after the republican convention. The McCain team received a bounce from their convention. Obama won the debates and went on to easily win the election. He received 365 electoral votes.
The Obama administration was faced with the weak economy left by the Bush regime. When Obama took office, unemployment was about 7.2%. Despite democrats having control of both houses, the economy was not improving. Like in Clinton’s first term, the democrats lost the House of Representatives in the mid-term election. Their defeat was propelled by the Tea Party, a neo republican conservative group founded three years ago. The republican lawmakers had made as their goal to make Obama a one term president.
The Obama Administration role in Liberia entailed the protection of human rights, the persecution of Liberian war crime perpetrators and human rights abusers residing in the US, direct and indirect aids and other assistance in corporation with other partners for development. The imprisonments of Chuck Taylor, son of Charles Taylor, and the deportation of George Boley, former Liberian warlord, are examples of Obama’s Liberian policy action.
Although the administration was quite aware of the corruption and other violations of the Sirleaf government, the Obama administration took no action on the Liberian problems, thanks to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton, an admirer of President Sirleaf, believes in women empowerment. Sirleaf was the first female president of a sovereign nation in Africa. Sirleaf has been a darling of the West. Just before the 2011 Liberian presidential election, she and two other women, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Some observers have complained that she did not deserve the award and that it was given her to influence the election. In fairness to Obama, he did express concern publicly regarding the shooting and killing by the Sirleaf forces during the peaceful demonstration of CDC members in November, 2011. Further, the Obama administration may have expressed concern more strongly than indicated. A nation’s opposition to an event is often expressed in stronger term at the diplomatic level. This occurred in 1979 in Liberia after the rice riot massacre. In fact, in the 2011 election, a State Department document stated that even though Sirleaf “won” the election, “opposition and unrest surrounding the elections showed that security, political and social conditions remain fragile”.
Election of 2012
In the 2012 Election the Republican Party nominated Mitt Romney for their standard bearer. Having lost the nomination in 2008 to John McClain, Mitt Romney was determined to win the nomination this time; and he was financially prepared for the presidential campaign. Romney is a wealthy business man. Upon graduation from Harvard with law and business degree, he founded the Bain Capital, which bought and resold businesses for a huge profit. It was said that Bain outsourced jobs overseas and had business or investment in China. Romney was a bishop in the Mammon Church. He was also a former governor of Massachusetts. He selected Paul Ryan as his VP running mate. Ryan is a US Representative from Wisconsin.
The Democratic Party re-nominated Baraka Obama as their candidate for a second term. Obama slightly led in the polls before the Democratic Party Convention. As stated previously, the US economy under Obama made no significant improvement. He inherited the failed economy of the Bush era with high unemployment and increased poverty rate. Under Bush, the GDP declined from -0.5% in the third quarter of 2008 to -3.8% in the fourth quarter of that year, plumbing the nation into a recession. Moreover, the US war in Iraq cost the country $3 trillion, according to Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz. This also increased the country’s deficits.
Under Obama, unemployment slightly increased from 7.2% in 2008 to 7.8% in September 2012, the election year. But the rate declined slowly from 8.1% in August to 7.8% in September. The GDP increased 2%, more than economists and analysts had expected. Private sector jobs had grown for 32 conservative months, while experiencing more job loss including decline in government employment.
In the first debate, Obama performed poorly. Romney appeared presidential. Romney won the debate and tightened the polls or by some media he led slightly. His argument was that Obama promised the American people four years ago to create more jobs but failed. Yet Romney would not tell specifically how he would create jobs, reduce deficits, help the middle class and increase revenues without raising taxes.
Although Obama won the next two debates, the race was very closed, particularly in the battleground states in October. But several factors turned things around for Obama. He was the first US President since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win re-election with a failed economic record. The main factor was turnout. The Obama campaign had a better and advanced ground organization. They utilized what some analysts called “mathematical – scientific targeting method, a data collection and computerized system, which divided the electorates into state and demographic categories. They identified nine states particularly located in the battleground, disregarding states historically considered solid democratic and states heavily republican. Ohio was the center of concentration. With this method, the campaign was able to get targeted, contacted and motivated voters to the polls on Election Day. Obama received 71% of the Latino vote, 55% of the women vote, 60% of the youth vote and 93% of the African-American vote, which surpassed that of 2008 election. Not only did he win majority of the electorate votes, he also won the popular votes.
Several other factors or events helped Obama’s victory: The auto bailout, Bill Clinton’s address, the 47% video tape, and Hurricane Sandy.
The Obama administration bailed out the auto industry, which was in a serious financial condition. The bailout enabled the industry to keep operation and thereby stopping possible layoff or termination of workers. Romney wrote an article opposing the bailout. The auto workers in the region, including Ohio, did not forget Obama during the election. About 60% of the voters from the auto industrial belt appreciated the bailout and voted for Obama.
Bill Clinton made a compelling case for Obama at the Democratic Convention. He simplified complex matters and gave the American people reasons to vote for Obama. In September during the campaign, a secret video tape of Romney surfaced. It showed Romney talking to some rich people at a private fundraising function, stating that 47% of Americans live on government benefits, entitlements, including food stamps. Romney stated, according to the tape, that these Americans should be disregarded because they will not vote for republicans. With the tape revelation, Romney’s poll went down; Obama went up in the polls.
In the last week of the campaign, super-storm Sandy occurred, destroying properties and causing the death of over 100 people in many states, especially New Jersey and New York. Obama stopped campaigning for two days and visited New Jersey to render assistance. He looked presidential. Americans saw him as a leader who cares. One of his critics, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a republican, praised him for caring and for showing leadership. According to election results, 81% of the voters considered Obama as a leader who cares.
With all these events and ground organization benefitting Obama, however, the Romney’s camp was sure of wining as predicted by Republican strategist and guru Carl Rove and other conservative analysts. Romney had written a victory speech on Election Day and prepared for fireworks in Boston. Early returns showed him wining. But he was shocked as later votes came in favoring Obama. He refused to concede until after 12 AM morning. As I have done in previous presidential elections, I stayed up late with my writing pad tallying the electorate results and following the network coverage. Obama won all of the swing states except North Carolina. He got a total of 332 electorate votes. Romney received 206. The election was over!
With this election and the second Obama administration, some observers hope for a better change, for policies bettering the middle class and underprivileged Americans. Obama should institute bold reforms and progressive policies without fear of conservative rightwing Republicans. Immigration reform and healthcare should be among the new policies. The new administration should make its mark and take a stance against corruption, nepotism and injustice, particularly in Third World countries, including Liberia.
Concluding Analysis
In this article, I presented US presidential elections and my personal observations on Liberian issues for the period covered. As indicated, regime change in Liberia did not come peacefully where international presence was absence. In order words, when the change did not involve international entities, the results, unfortunately, appeared chaotic. This state of affairs does not necessarily mean that in order for things to work requires the blessing or involvement of international governments or institutions, rather the need for local citizens to come together to solve their problems in the honest interest of their country. Seemingly, in Liberia individuals came into power purposely for self and party and not for the good of the country. Peace and development for Liberia and Africa in general can come about when there is fairness in the process and justice is for all. Justice brings genuine peace, which in return brings security and encourages development. Liberian politicians need to put Liberia first. The attainment of higher education and international contacts of leaders does not necessarily translate to success in administration as pointed out in the article in the case of Sawyer and Sirleaf. Corruption continues to be a major factor affecting development. Natural concern of the country and people seems a needed ingredient for state leadership, a leadership with principles, fairness, honesty and integrity.
Although presidential elections in the US are not all perfect as the 2000 election showed, after an election is over and a winner has been declared, the losing candidate congratulates the victor and pledges support for the good of the country. Democrats and republicans come together as one. National interest overrides personal and party interest. The country is number one! This practice is one of the finest elements, which make America great. But this practice of course is not the birthright or the brain child of the US. Every nation, regardless of race, size and power can practice this behavior if the country and citizens are determined to.
Contrary to popular belief, United States has done little for Liberia considering the historical tie between the two nations. Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, though the country as a state has been in existence for over 160 years and although Liberia is viewed as a stepchild of the US, the world’s richest nation. All US presidents covered in this article provided little support to Liberia, particularly at a time the country needed help. Yet America provides more help and support to Israel than to Liberia or to any other country. Liberia’s historical relation to the US is far older than the ties between US and Israel. This brings us to the issue of foreign policy, which I will briefly discuss below.
Foreign policy, particularly for the US, can be classified into two categories — constant and variable. Constant is a non-changing foreign policy which a state formulates toward other nations. Usually this policy has a deep historical base. Variable foreign policy on the other hand changes depending on the president or the administration in power. It is a policy by an administration. For instance, Carter formulated a foreign policy, which focused on human rights. Reagan focused on Eastern Europe aiming at dismantling "the evil empire". US foreign policy for Liberia is variable. Although Liberia and the US have a historical relation dating back to the early 1800s, United States as a nation does not see Liberia as its responsibility as Liberia does.
A US president can form his own administration policy for Liberia without answering to the American people. Although some US presidents, in the past especially during the cold war, have developed a friendlier foreign policy for Liberia, recent presidents care little or less for Liberia. Liberia is no longer a strategic interest zone. This was why President Bush asked for reasons to help Liberia, without considering US-Liberia long relations. On the other hand, US foreign policy for Israel is constant. No American president would ask for reasons to assist Israel. US as a nation state had vowed to help and protect Israel no matter what. Unlike African Americans, the Jewish people in America have economic and political power, and this factor plays a role in the country’s foreign policy. Every US presidential candidates must pledge support for Israel in order to win. The case is not for Liberia.
Liberia hence needs to stand on her own feet and needs to empower Liberians to help themselves and develop Liberia and not look up to others for development. The country is rich, rich in natural resources. Concerned Liberians need to focus on the country for a better future.
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