Huckabee’s ‘Kenya’ clarification raises more questions

“In my answer, I simply misspoke when I alluded to President Obama growing up in ‘Kenya’ and meant to say Indonesia.”
–Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee

We all make mistakes. A slip of the tongue can easily happen, especially to a politician during an interview.

But Huckabee’s claim that he misspoke when he said–twice–on the Steve Malzberg radio show that President Obama grew up in Kenya raises more questions. That’s because of the context in which Huckabee made his claim.

Here’s what he said:

Malzberg: “Don’t you think we deserve to know more about this man?”

Huckabee: “I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American. When he gave the bust back to the Brits — ”

Malzberg: “Of Winston Churchill.”

Huckabee: “The bust of Winston Churchill, a great insult to the British. But then if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.”

Try substituting Indonesia into those comments and it makes little sense.

Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony, known as the Dutch East Indies. The British controlled Malaysia, which is kind of close to Indonesia, but the Mau Mau uprising took place in Kenya in the 1950s. Churchill was the British prime minister when the uprising erupted in 1952. Obama’s grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was reportedly detained during the conflict, though that is not confirmed. (See third update below.)

In his memoir “Dreams from my Father,” Obama wrote that he did not visit Kenya until he was in his 20s. Obama barely knew his father, who abandoned Obama’s mother shortly after he was born and played almost no role in Obama’s upbringing.

The question of the Winston Churchill bust is a bit murkier.

Huckabee is right that the British press went a little nuts over this issue. But the bust was on loan from the British to President George W. Bush and the White House said it was due to be returned before Obama even arrived at the White House. Still, the British embassy said they would extend the loan if Obama wished. But Obama replaced the bust with one of Abraham Lincoln–a Republican!–and now the Churchill bust resides at the residence of the British ambassador. Obama later tried make amends, praising Churchill at a news conference and making a point of noting he kept a biography of Churchill on display.

But in any case Churchill had nothing to do with Indonesia, where Obama lived for five years, until he was 10.

So Huckabee’s whole statement kind of falls apart, especially when Kenya is replaced by Indonesia. What was he really thinking?

We asked a Huckabee spokesman for an explanation and will post an answer if we get one.

Update: Huckabee’s spokesman points out that the governor discusses the Winston Churchill incident on page 183 in his new book, “A Simple Government.” Huckabee writes that “our wartime partnership with Winston Churchill and the British people is part of our story; the Mau Mau rebellion is not.” He accuses Obama of emphasizing “his story rather than history.” We are still waiting for a fuller explanation.

Further update, 4:30 PM: Huckabee appeared on Bryan Fischer’s radio show Wednesday and discussed the incident further, noting that, regarding the return of the Churchill bust, he merely quoted the outrage of a British newspaper in his book. “I do think he [Obama] has a different world view and I think it is, in part, molded out of a very different experience,” Huckabee said. “Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas.”

The idea that Obama attended a madrassa had been debunked by original Fact Checker Michael Dobbs (it was a Catholic school.) But the notion that Obama is anti-colonial–and that this is bad–is also a little strange. After all, one of the biggest foes of Winston Churchill’s efforts to hold onto British colonies was none other than President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Third update, March 3: Justin Elliott at Salon has an interesting interview with an historian that adds context to questions concerning the Mau Mau uprising.

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