Connecting the Holocaust and Darfur, and Wondering: Where is Obama?

President Obama is set to visit Buchenwald on Friday, following in the footsteps of his great-uncle, Charles Payne, who was a member of the infantry division that liberated a subcamp of the infamous Nazi concentration camp.  Payne describes walking into the camp and finding bodies "lying on the ground, holding their tin cups, as if they had been expecting food and were instead killed."

The visit will follow on the heels of Obama's much-anticipated speech in Cairo tomorrow. As ENOUGH's John Norris writes:

"What he says, or does not say, about the situation in Sudan will rightly be seen as a barometer of his commitment to the issue not only by those in the Arab world, but also by activists here in the United States."

I share the sentiments of the editors of The New Republic, regarding Obama's performance on Darfur thus far:

"Since Obama is a pragmatist--and pragmatism is, by definition, what works--we should judge his policies in this area by a single standard: Are they accomplishing the goal of ending Darfur's suffering? We are sad to say that the initial signs have not been encouraging. In fact, as Obama supporters, we are extraordinarily disappointed."

US involvement in a peace process for Sudan is far from a straightforward process --- the source of my frustration is the lack of any sense of strategy, direction, or even urgency. We have an envoy --- but what has he been up to? We know his travel schedule, but not much else. Much diplomacy goes on behind closed doors, out of necessity --- but not all of it, and we can't just sit back and expect that everything will be taken care of.

As a candidate, Obama spoke of genocide anywhere - Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur --- as a "stain on our souls." I hope that he draws the connection between his uncle's words, his visit to Buchenwald, and his potential to change the repetitive cycle of history by showing true strategic leadership on Darfur.

There is no magic wand, no easy answer, no chance that Darfur will go from problem to paradise with some quick fix. But that does not mean we should accept the status quo, or assume that the conflict will just have to run its own course. Too many people are at the mercy of the status quo.

Steps can be taken in a better direction. When will we start taking them?

[Photo from AFP: Barack Obama, wearing a white yarmulke, lays a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, where ashes from concentration camps are buried. ]