DAKAR, Senegal — Posters plastered with President Obama's smiling face and U.S. flags flapping in the warm ocean breeze lined the main routes into Senegal's capital city on Thursday. Obama arrived in Senegal as part of a three-country visit to Africa on Wednesday night and residents in the West African country were on hand Thursday to offer him a warm welcome, with many taking to the streets to watch the president's motorcade drive past. "I'm not sure if it will happen but I hope to see President Obama waving to me as he drives by," said Mamadou Ndiaye, a taxi driver in Dakar. "It is such an honor, knowing that he is coming to my country." But Obama used a news conference at the presidential palace on Thursday morning with Senegal's President Macky Sall to address issues squarely on his domestic agenda. He said that Wednesday's Supreme Court's rulings on gay marriage were a victory not just for gays and lesbians but for American democracy. He said different customs and religious beliefs must be respected in different countries, but states and laws should treat everyone equally.
