Obama and tribalism

Roger Cohen is back with more on Obama's Kenyan roots (NYT). Among other things, we get this claim:

Because Obama’s paternal family is Luo, the Luos love him without reserve. By contrast, Kikuyus, the largest tribe, are cool to him.

Which echoes fellow NYT columnist Nick Kristof a couple weeks back:

Mr. Obama draws frenzied support from the Luo ethnic group of his ancestors, while many members of the rival Kikuyu group fervently support Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You hear this claim a lot. Yes, I've had some Kenyans ask me if I'm concerned about Obama's lack of experience. But I've talked to plenty of Kikuyus - even ones that toe the tribal line on other questions - that love Obama.

Cohen then takes us on a journey from Kenya's tribal post-election violence, through the Internet and Jihadism, to America's "peaceful tribes" of "the Latino vote" and the "Volvo-driving liberal-intellectual vote", finally ending up back in Kenya:

Those charred buildings and smashed windows in Kisumu are borne somewhere in Obama’s soul

He lost me somewhere along the way. But I do agree with his closing thought (which is really Kofi Annan's closing thought) that President Obama would be a good thing for the world.

Meanwhile, in the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs, Catholic University's Jerry Muller provides a good reminder of the overwhelming importance of ethnic nationalism in shaping European history and in providing the set of European states we have today.