Oops: Yahoo! News Accidentally Refers to Kenya as Obama’s 'Country of Birth'

Leah Barkoukis | Jun 23, 2013

President Obama and his family are about to embark on a weeklong trip to Africa this week, which includes stops in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. The trip has garnered significant media attention—not because of the president’s agenda while there—but for its excessive cost, which some say could range from $60 to $100 million.

Yahoo! News’ story on the cost of Obama’s trip is drawing attention for others reasons, however.

Things got pretty awkward for news website, Yahoo! News, afteran article published by a White House reporterFriday called Kenya President Obama’s ‘country of birth.’

The article, written by Rachel Rose Hartman, spoke of the Obama family’s upcoming visit to Africa, which is expected to take place on June 26th to July 3rd. Hartman mentioned that the President will not be stopping in his country of birth which — apparently to the writer — is Kenya. […]

Yahoo! News later issued a correction to the article, stating that the story had mistakenly identified the president’s country of birth. And in an attempt to remedy the situation, the website changed the statement from saying the president’s ‘country of birth’ to his ‘ancestral homeland’, which admittedly is not much better.

Meanwhile, Kenyans are actually really upset the president will be not be stopping over in his, er, “ancestral homeland,” and have taken to Twitter with the hashtag #WhyObamaWillSkipKenya to criticize the decision.

Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, told reporters on Friday that it’s just not the best time for the president to visit, even though he still has a “deep, personal, familial connection to Kenya.”

Read more:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkouk...-birth-n1625301