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Dreams from Kogelo

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Granny Sarah and a calendar featuring her grandson as she celebrates Obama's victory over Clinton
Must confess to one of those moments when I lose my cynicism and suddenly find myself going a bit misty eyed. Have done my best in the past to try to debunk the Obama myth by pointing out his family in Kenya is reasonably well to-do, his granny is actually his step-granny, his father was a drunk and abusive husband. I've tried to ask my tediously right-on friends why misogeny is acceptable in the race for the White House while racism is not. And so on... And then today as I trudged through the mud towards the Obamas' little house in a field in Kogelo, western Kenya, I found myself going all soppy for the American Dream. It's pretty incredible that a family can go from a little tin-roofed shack in Africa to the doorstep of the world's most famous address in a single generation. Then I trod in a cowpat.

What do you think?