Anderson to interview Obama in Ghana
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/07/art.web.ac.africa.jpg]
AC360°
Anderson travels to Ghana later this week for an exclusive interview with President Obama who will visit Accra, the capital, after the G8 summit in Italy this week.
This is the first trip of an African-American president to Africa. Obama visited Africa as a senator and, in 2006, received a hero's welcome in his father's native Kenya.
The president will address various bilateral and regional issues with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, the White House said in a news statement.
"The President and Mrs. Obama look forward to strengthening the U.S. relationship with one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa, and to highlighting the critical role that sound governance and civil society play in promoting lasting development," according to the statement.
Tune in for Anderson's interview with the President next week on AC360°.
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Hey, any room on the flight to Ghana.
This blog is getting heavy man. I would have thought most people understand and appreciate the difference between a country and a continent and also appreciate that no two places are the same.
I can't see the need to get angry.
Looks like Anderson is heading off for some (Michael Jackson free) peace and quite – can't blame him.
Wonder if they'll also visit Kenya where Obama was born and a a young Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt, spent some time in a hospital there as a youth.
Thanks Anderson for getting back to real news again .Please ask the President how he is going to fix the economy and job losses back home .
You are allways on the road you are going to forget where home is .I look forward to seeing your interview .You are the best AC.
Michelle D.
Dear Anderson Cooper,
Thanks for all the great work you have done throughout the years; I am a big fan.
Let me go straight to it. Egypt is in Africa. Obama was there last month. Hence this is not the president's first trip to Africa. It is his second trip there.
Why is that people, the media want to disconnect Egypt from Africa? This is not the first time nor will it be the last. Sometimes, by ignorance and other times by design.
The African museum of History in Chicago used to seperate the Egypt side from the 'African' side.
Please indulge the Africans in making that correction. Yes it is his first visit as president to Sub-Saharan Africa. I believe that you are neither ignorant nor a liar but one that is fair and just.
We thank you,
-Amadou
'A Senegalese in Atlanta'
You will be doing us a really big favor if you used this trip to educate your audience on where on the African continent you will be interviewing President Obama this week. Ghana a country in Africa.
It will also be nice if in these last few days before your visit to Ghana, the CNN ads say "interviewing President Obama in Ghana"
Enjoy your trip. No need to worry about safety. Ghana would be like no other destination for you, real warmth and hearty welcome from Ghanaians the minute you arrive. Try the local cuisine.
Finally, remember that the people of Ghana are called Ghanaians (not Ghanese). I have heard quite a number of erroneous pronunciations.
While it is indeed an interesting idea that an "African America" U.S. President would be taking a visit to "AFRICA," we know that Obama has already been there as President. Once again Europeans have attempted to remove Kemet (proper name for Egypt) from Africa. Maybe it is his first trip to what was called Black Africa-non-colonized Africa.
Additionally, while Obama is of African descent, he is also of European descent. His direct lineage has a closer correlation with the slave holding class of the U.S. opposed to the descendant of those Africans who were kidnapped and forced into servitude in the Americas. So, it is a good idea, but the superficial nature or the way you are framing this, makes it a misleading fraud that will only cause you all to lose legitimacy.
Dear Anderson:
Could you please bring a bit of the interview attention on the plight of D.R. Congo?
Ghana has already passed the level of despair, guns do not any longer find a fertile environment in West Africa; but the Congo is a very desperate country that needs just a little more attention as witnessed by Madame Cindy McCain, senator McCain's wife. She just returned from there.
Thank you for your attention.
Sorry, I had to post this again because I forgot to put my location in my previous post:
Anderson, on your interview with the President during his visit to Ghana, Africa, could you please ask him the following question, you will do a lot of service to a lot of Africans if you can manage to get an answer from the President on this:
Qn. How could the US provide military and economic assistance to countries like Ethiopia, whose leaders like Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, tortured, killed and imprisoned countless Ethiopians for demanding human rights and democracy? As you may know, after the rigged election in 2005, over 200 people have been shot and killed, most in the head by direct sniper fire, and thousands have been imprisoned, most till today.
Anderson, on your interview with the President during his visit to Ghana, Africa, could you please ask him the following question, you will do a lot of service to a lot of Africans if you can manage to get an answer from the President on this:
Qn. How could the US provide military and economic assistance to countries like Ethiopia, whose leaders like Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, tortured, killed and imprisoned countless Ethiopians for demanding human rights and democracy? As you may know, after the rigged election in 2005, over 200 people have been shot and killed, most in the head by direct sniper fire, and thousands have been imprisoned, most till today.
Dear Anderson,
I appreciated your comments and Larry King's comments tonight regarding growing up without a father. My father died when I was 13 years old. I can remember tons of people around the family right after his death but no one about 6 months later when I always felt I needed people.
I look forward to your report on Obama's visit to Ghana at the end of the week.
My husband is a Canadian geologist who has worked for several years in Ghana as well as many other African nations.
From speaking to him, I know the Ghanians are very excited about Obama's visit.
I am sure the visit to the castles on the Cape Coast will be extremely touching and memorable.
Have a safe trip!
At one time President Obama was going to Egypt and South Africa, in addition to Ghana. Looking forward to the interview.
Comment #5 above from Cindy:
She obviously has no clue where you are......just somewhere in Africa, where people kill each other on sight.
Following up on my prior comment which is still awaiting moderation:-
Am I the only one who sees a direct correlation between the contempt other peoples bear us and the way we belittle them? Remember the Middle East?
Africa is a great big continent, not one amorphous country. Its countries are as unique and as different as Canada and Mexico are from the US. How would you feel if we were referred to only as North America?
Oh, I am a Mosotho-American(one of two?), from Lesotho, a country in Africa.
Obama’s trip to Ghana – what story will the media choose to tell the world.
This weekend President Barack Obama will be visiting a small country on the West Coast of Africa (Ghana formerly Gold cost). As far as I can tell there is very little interest by the News Media in this historic visit. Historic not just because you have the first African American visiting the first African State to achieve independence from the British, or Ghana’s role in transatlantic slave trade, but more importantly because Ghana has emerged over the last 20 years as a stable, progressive and democratic country on a continent that is ravaged by tribal wars, poverty and dictatorships.
Obama’s trip is a teachable moment and knowing the calculated nature of this President ,I can not imagine his decision to visit Ghana so soon in his presidency is not strategic and deliberate. Ghana is a small country who’s history has mostly gone untold. The fact is that Ghana is one of the rising and emerging economies in Africa and probably the world. A country of 20million people but with tremendous human capital. Many people don’t know that the last UN Secretary General (1997- 2007), Kofi Annan is a son of of Ghana, or that the Princeton educated Francis Allotey is a world authority on soft x-ray spectroscopy widely known for the principles named after him the "Allotey Formalism", or that Ghana is one of a few African countries who contributed troops to Cambodia, Rwanda and Congo, and that major U.S. companies including Coca Cola, S.C. Johnson, Star-Kist, IBM, 3M, Motorola, Price Waterhouse Coopers operate there.
Sure, the story of Ghana is not without blemishes. Many challenges remain; poverty, diseases and high unemployment, sadly the same problems industrialized nations struggle with. That said, the example Ghana continues to set needs telling and we should all endeavor to tell it. We should endeavor to speak justice to injustice, speak truth to deception, but similarly celebrate triumph. Today’s media is quick to break the news of deterioration and despair in Africa. Whilst this is welcomed, we must also be willing to present the success stories wherever they occur. We must all hold ourselves accountable, the media being no exception. In this information age we live, the media has a moral and ethical responsibility more than at any other time in human history. How the media chooses to chronicle our world will undoubtedly inform and shape the twitter and facebook generation in exponential proportions, for good or for bad.
Paul Nkansah
pnkansah@umich.edu
Looking forward to this interview - and getting back to more of what's happening outside of the Michael Jackson "bubble." (I would like to say that I thought Anderson's coverage of the memorial today was dignified and professional.)
I'm interested in Obama's remarks in Ghana (and, also, in the Roxana Saberi interview and hoping for that to air in the relatively near future, too.) Hopefully, while Anderson's in Ghana he can cover some background stories to put President Obama's trip and remarks in perspective.
Anderson - have a safe trip and hope you get some well deserved rest someday soon! (Hope your dog knows who you are when you finally get to return home!)
I'm heartened to notice on your blog that you mention where specifically the President is. Ghana....not Africa.
If I only relied on the TV for news, as a lot of people do(especially the educationally challenged), I would not know where the President is. The trailers keeptelling us that you will be interviewing the Prez in Africa.
He just came back from Russia, a country in Europe. Europe was never mentioned in any of the trailers for that event.
Why does CNN and/or the media not name African countries?
Please... Africa is a continent and Ghana is a country in Africa. Pres. Obama will be in Ghana not Africa.
Obama was in Russia not Europe.
He was in Egypt which is also Africa.
God speed.
I am saddened by mjs death I want 2 thank cnn for all the coverage. I never watched cnn before. Now being a fan of mj has allowed me 2 discover ac 360 now i am a fan of the show and anderson cooper. I will definitely be watching the interview with the president and from noiw on.
Anderson, I have to say something nice.
Yes a serious newsman can also cover Michael Jackson. What did I say can no should (see Rev. Sharpon speech at the ceremony, MJ was not only the greatest performer of our times).
For me a good news program should try to cover everything, entertainment is a serious matter and without we would be terribly bored and sad.
I think that if the media have covered MJ so much it is because there is a demand from the public.
Fox News do not cover MJ because they are racist.- Image for one second if the guy was white ...
Hi, Anderson!
I agree with Sarah (second comment): you are going to forget what home looks like.
You don't stop quiet and I love it! lol ... I wish my life were so! 🙂
Another interview with President Obama. This is great. We may make a comparison and thinking about what has changed and matured (both the interviewee as the interviewer, okay?)... after all it is not easy to interview a president.
Ghana ... They are Presidential, right? The economy is based on extraction of natural resources. Hmm .... I need 360team teach me more about the country.
I look forward anxiously! Your work is great!
Have a nice trip!
Glad to see Anderson getting out and going to Africa again. One thing I'd like to know from Obama is how many things that he wanted to do have turned out to be harder to do than he thought originally and so it will be later on down the road before he can do them? One of the items I'm particularly concerned with is mountaintop removal mining – he had indicated he wanted to outlaw it but instead his administration is just stiffening the requirements so our oldest mountains are still being blown apart – how can this be acceptable to anyone?
It's good to see that the news does actually plan to return. Unfortunately I think CNN's credibility is gone for good.
It sounds ignorant when someone intelligent knowingly generalizes a country in Africa as "Africa". CNN is also guilty of this oversight. Cooper will be interviewing Obama in Ghana, not the entire African continent. I think this generalization of "Africa" is hurtful and demeaning. Africa is a diverse continent of countries, people and cultures and individual countries should be rightly recognized. When Obama is visiting Russia, we do not say he is visiting Europe, unless he is making multiple stops. So why do we say Obama is visiting Africa when he is visiting Ghana?
today is a very emotional day for me and if i could trade life today for god to bring michael back i will i love michael very much and it hurt so bad to watch him lying in the casket was so much emotional. michael work was done on earth so god call him home. michael joseph jackson is in a happy place were is no pains, no tears and no sorrows i know he's very happy. RIP. MICHAEL I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART .
At least it is not Michael Jackson news, but a reality check on our own national issues with in depth details about our own congress and finding that transparency that was spoken of so often on the old camp fire trail would be of more interest as to what Obama has to say about any other nation.
It is time to put America first for a change and that is change I can believe in.
The boy that sang today at Michael's memorial is from Britains got talent i think
Safe trip Anderson!
Hi Anderson, I don't know much about Ghana, but I do know they had a successful democratic election earlier this year. I heard that Pres. Obama is going there to highlight the results achieved by stable countries that are governed well (like Ghana). I look forward to learning more about this country in your interview.
Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington
I saw the commercial for this and wondered when you all would announce it. I'm not one who fawns all over Obama as anyone can tell so this interview doesn't rank as anyone I'd really like to see Anderson interview since he's already talked to him once. But maybe while Anderson is in Africa he can actually do a report or two on the killings and other mess that's going on there. Now that, I'd like to see.
Cindy..Ga.
Anderson
You used to be a serious newsman for a serious news organization.
The last ten days of Michael Jackson Network have been an embarrasment to "the most trusted name.". Even FOX was more "balanced." Let us know when the news returns.
Wow! Actual news, for a change. How much more is CNN and the other networks going to milk the Jackson death? Especially without using it as a way of talking about broader issues, like all the
"regular" people abusing prescription drugs?
Questions I have for the president: How much are you being held back from what you really want to do (healthcare, the environment) by roadblocks, not enough will, etc.? What would you really like to have happen and how much have you had to compromise? What specifically would you like the American public today, both in our own lives (conserving energy, getting healthier) and in pushing our government officials.
Dr. Steven Chu, the Sec of Energy, urged people to paint their roofs white as a way of saving energy AND money (it only takes a few hours and a few buckets of paint). What ideas like this would Obama suggest as ways we can circumvent political will to do something good for the environment (and, in this case, our bank accounts)? I wish the president would talk more specifically about what we all can do to help.
Hey, Anderson you are going to forget what home looks like.
Will be interesting to see Obama has to say on the many issues facing the African Continent.
Looking forward to this interview.
Is the interview that Anderson did with Roxana Sarbieri (sp?) available on-line anywhere?