Topic: WorldNetDaily
In a July 19 WorldNetDaily article repeating discredited claims that a proposed new Kenyan constitution is a significant expansion of abortion rights, Jerome Corsi reached into his little bag of Obama smears and repeated false claims about what he claimed are "Obama's links to [Kenyan prime minister Raila] Odinga":
The Obama administration's funding of Kenyan internal politics appears to follow a pattern then-Sen. Obama first set on his 2006 Senate-funded visit to Kenya.
During that trip in 2006, Obama campaigned so openly for Odinga that Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua went on Kenyan television on behalf of Kenyan President Kibaki to object that Obama was meddling inappropriately in Kenyan politics, as WND reported.
WND reported in 2008 that Obama raised almost $1 million for Odinga during the run-up to Kenya's 2007 presidential election.
Obama did not campaign for Odinga. As PolitiFact.com noted when Corsi made the same claim in his anti-Obama book:
What we can confirm is that Obama has remained neutral in Kenyan politics, and did not support Odinga during his trip. Odinga attended some of Obama's events while Obama was in Kenya, and clearly wanted to associate himself with Obama, but there is no evidence to indicate that Obama "openly supported" Odinga.
[...]
Corsi states that Obama "openly supported" Raila Odinga. We found public statements from Obama during the trip saying the exact opposite. We found no other evidence to support Corsi's statement, so we rate his statement False.
Further, as we detailed in 2008 when Corsi first told this lie, Obama did not raise "almost $1 million for Odinga." The documents Corsi is relying on to support the claim are clearly forged (and PolitiFact.com busted it as well).
Corsi implies that Obama has acted on behalf of Odinga because he is "a Luo tribesman like Obama's father." In fact, as PolitiFact noted, Obama "gave a high-profile speech the need for the country to move beyond corruption and tribal rivalries. This undercuts Corsi's theory that Obama was motivated by his Luo tribal heritage."
