Original blog and photo at:
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=5743
I know, I know - I’m too old to be attaching cutesy things to my backpack purse. But, I have found in the past that when I travel in foreign countries it’s best to declare right off the bat that you’re a fan of someone other than GWB or his seeming doppelganger McCain. So, in addition to the to-die-for Mountie Bear, I sported my “Obama 08” pin for all to see on my recent trek across Canada. I wore it as a sort of declaration to anyone walking behind me not to kick me just because I’m an American. We aren’t, after all, terribly well-liked. As people will tell you, they don’t have a problem with Americans as individuals, it’s the government they have issues with. Here at home in the US, it’s easy to become insulated and not see ourselves as the rest of the world does. News coverage elsewhere around the globe (particularly in Europe) is much more in-depth; there is much less of the sound byte mind set. Even being somewhere as close as Canada is far enough away to gain a larger perspective on our country.
Barack Obama’s rock star tour of the Middle East and Europe has partially coincided with my decidedly more prosaic tour of Canada. The enthusiastic world reception he has received was mirrored by those I came in contact with on my trip. In my travels, I met people from all over the world. Since Canada is part of the British Commonwealth there were of course English, Scots and Irish – after all, the exchange rate is fabulous at the moment. I also crossed paths and shared bus seats with Hungarians, French, Czechs, Africans, Swedes (regal ones, at that!), Indians, Japanese and of course, Canadians. My Obama button never failed to be a conversation starter. Admittedly, people who travel are generally more worldly and aware, but I still found it intriguing that most folks I talked to had been following our primary and election process closely and with much fascination.
And who do you think they were rooting for? Without exception, they were for Obama, hands down. During the primaries, they had had their definite favorites – many Brits I talked to had been rooting for Hillary - but were quick (perhaps quicker than we were) to get solidly behind Obama when it became apparent he would be the nominee. Political discussions became de rigueur even when I would try to steer the conversation in another direction. “Please,” I would say, “I don’t want to offend you if you’re a Bush fan.” This would usually elicit a snort of laughter, pronounced rolling of the eyes and unflattering comparisons of Bush with their own head of state.
I found that the “citizens of the world” as Obama called them today, are far ahead of us in terms of acceptance of many big issues. Whether or not global warming and climate change are real is not a subject to be argued about by Europeans and Canadians – they have moved past that and solutions are being sought. I was amazed at the amount of recycling that is practiced in Canada and has been for some time. Every hotel room has a recycling bin in addition to regular trash cans. I haven’t seen that in the US yet. In reading Canadian newspapers, I also learned that as far as they are concerned, torture is NOT ok, Guantanamo is NOT a good place and the war in Iraq is NOT one they should have gotten involved in. The recent extradition of an American soldier to face AWOL/dissent of the war charges is NOT something they are proud of. A murder, which is fairly uncommon, is a big deal – in the whole country - not just in the province the victim lived in.
So what did all those people I chatted with during long hours on my trans-Canada train journey have to say about Obama? They expressed amazement and admiration that we have a presumptive nominee that is African American. This is not a common thing anywhere in the world. They wanted to know if we had the guts to elect him. Would racism, whether silent or overt, raise its ugly head and end what they considered America’s last best hope? They expressed concern about Obama’s safety, pointing out that we don’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to leaders who inspire hope in so many but also inspire fear in a bigoted, insecure few. I found that in the world, like here at home, there is a hunger for a fresh approach; a new way; in a word: hope. They, like us, are tired of living life at a stress level that would kill an elephant.
When Obama addressed the crowd in Germany today, his basic message was that we need a world that is united if we expect to defeat the challenges we face today – from AIDS to terrorism. The greatest danger, he said, “…is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.” I learned on my trip that even in a small way, individuals tearing down those walls and talking to each other furthers international understanding. As one of my new British friends said at the conclusion of a rousing, wine-soaked political discussion, “In the end, in the democratic process, we get what we deserve.” If we stand by and become “low information voters,” paying little attention to the process, we tacitly allow government happen to us with all its abuses. This is what has happened in the past 7 ½ years; we got what we deserved.
This, then, is the question that remains to be answered in November: What do we deserve?
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