WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: In Ghana whirlwind, Obama visits hospital, slave fortress, gives speech

WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama’s whirlwind Ghana tour

ACCRA, Ghana — Protocol says you stand when the president enters a room. But for a handful of pregnant women, President Barack Obama was willing to make an exception.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama highlighted prenatal health during a program Saturday at a La General Hospital in Ghana. When the first couple joined the group, many of the visibly pregnant women stood.

“Maybe all the mothers can sit down,” Obama said.

Obama told a few reporters on hand for the visit that such prenatal counseling is important to reduce infant mortality rates. Ghana declared infant mortality an emergency last year.

As the Obamas departed, Mrs. Obama grabbed the hand of a nurse who was guiding them through the halls.

One concern of no-drama Obama during the visit seemed to be keeping the excitement to a minimum.

“Nobody’s going to have a baby right now, right?” he called out as he walked up to the group of about 20 expectant women.

Obama, in shirt sleeves, and Mrs. Obama visited the hospital before his address to parliament.

The hospital focuses on prenatal care, HIV testing for pregnant women, improved labor and delivery services, afterbirth care and nutritional counseling. It gets assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Obamas toured several areas of the clinic, meeting more mothers and babies as they went.

“This is the highlight of the trip. Look at these cuties,” Obama said of the babies. He hoisted a couple and leaned over cribs, and down, to greet the others. One seemed frightened and began to cry.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

Mrs. Obama then took the child in her arms. That calmed the baby for a bit — before she fled to her mother.

But Obama wasn’t taking any responsibility for frightening the child.

“I think it’s the reporters who are scary,” he joked about the media contingent that follows his every public move. “They scare me all the time.”

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For a politician, Obama seemed to be striking out with the babies.

On a subsequent part of the hospital tour, he lifted up another young one — who also was crying.

“She wants to make a speech — to parliament,” the president joked.

As Obama’s motorcade passed cheering crowds after leaving the hospital en route to the convention center for his speech, one woman held up a sign conveying a thought about what the president’s stands for:

O nly

B black

A merican

M anaging

A merica

Obama is used to getting standing ovations. Not so familiar: a blasting trombone.

As he took the podium for the speech to parliament, someone in the rear of the convention hall bleated out raw tones.

Obama took a few moments to take it all in.

“I like this,” he said, noting his reception by U.S. lawmakers doesn’t come close. “I think Congress needs one of those horns.”

In the audience were two of Ghana’s most recent presidents, John Kufuor and Jerry Rawlings.

Obama noted their presence at the top of his remarks, along with Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo, the speaker of parliament, who gave a lengthy, praise-filled introduction of her distinguished American guest.

“We have in our midst this morning the historic presence of the president of the United States,” she said.

She called Obama an “illustrious personality” whose campaign mantra of “Yes We Can” has echoed far beyond the borders of the United States and has helped shake the “slumber and despair out of many people around the world.”

The Obamas’ reputation as high-fashion influences are well documented. In Ghana, they’re even shaping casualwear.

Along streets in the country’s capital, well-wishers sported clothing with the Obamas’ likenesses. Students wore T-shirts stamped with Obama’s image, vendors sold knit hats with Obama and his wife on them, and street merchants sold posters of the family.

American flags stamped with Obama’s face also were peddled.

After the speech, Obama flew by helicopter to the coast for a family tour of Cape Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th century.

Marine One, as any chopper with Obama aboard is called, landed on a muddy soccer field.

How muddy?

Another of the helicopters in the presidential party sank to its belly as its wheels went into the mud. It lifted out and landed again. Aide Marvin Nicholson emerged with a little bit of blood on his head, but it was unclear how he was injured.

The Obamas left something behind so other visitors to the castle would know they were there.

They emerged from the building at one point to unveil a plaque mounted on the wall outside the male slave dungeons. It said: “This plaque was unveiled by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama of the United States of America on the occasion of their visit to the Cape Coast Castle on the 11th day of July 2009.”