Hoft Repeats Debunked Claim That Obama Campaigned For Kenya's Odinga

In a post on his website today, Jim Hoft repeated the debunked claim that Obama campaigned for Kenya's Odinga during his 2006 visit to Kenya. Hoft wrote: “While visiting Kenya as a guest of the government Obama campaigned for socialist Raila Odinga, who claims he is Obama's cousin.”

As we've previously detailed, PolitiFact.com found “no evidence to indicate that Obama 'openly supported' Odinga” during his 2006 trip to Kenya - in fact, Obama made a point of saying that he tried to “meet with all parties” during his visit, including Odinga's opponent, Mwai Kibaki. While Odinga clearly wanted to associate himself with Obama by attending some of Obama's events during the visit, PolitiFact wrote, Obama “remained neutral in Kenyan politics, and did not support Odinga during his trip.”

Hoft has peddled this false claim before. In July, 2010, Jim Hoft wrote, “Obama campaigned with radical opposition leader and current Prime Minister socialist Prime Minister Raila Odinga.”

Today, Hoft also makes a muddled point that Obama and Odinga “must be related” because Kenyan opposition leaders accuse Odinga of supporting the proceedings of the International Criminal Court in Kenya in order to clear the field in the 2012 Kenyan elections. This doesn't need much of a response beyond pointing out that it's ludicrous to suggest that Obama and Odinga have acted similarly.