First, big thanks to my international friends, some of whom live in Denmark, Korea, New Zealand and Canada. You’ve opened my eyes to the global effect of the US Presidential election.
Second, I have some questions for those who read this blog (US and international, Obama and McCain supporters, all are welcome to comment):
How do you think the world’s perspective of the US will change? How do you see Obama's presidency affecting your country and your personal life? What have you learned and how have you specifically grown from this election?
Please comment.
1 comment:
how will the world's perspective of the US change? I think that everybody out here's glad that bush is gone, but there's a bit of a "wait and see" undercurrent before anybody's ready to declare the dark ages over.
In a way, I think a lot of the glee over Obama's election is actually just the bright reflection of the world's extreme dislike for George W Bush -- after eating bowls of poo for eight years, even a bucket of soggy cabbage looks good, you know?
He has a great deal of international goodwill right now, but I think the world is holding its breath and waiting until the inaguration to see if this guy's for real. The whole "post-racial America" thing plays much bigger in the US (I think) than it does internationally, where we're just hoping Barack can clean up all the messes bush left behind. To that extent, the world will be very happy to cooperate with Pres. O, but as you remember, George W Bush had a huge amount of goodwill from the international community after 9/11, but because of how he tried to manipulate that goodwill, the sympathy turned into distrust and suspicion, and the disappointment was even sharper, exactly BECAUSE it was such a letdown from the kind of turning point/teachable moment 9/11 COULD have been for the world.
One thing that made me happy about this election is that the media machine America is famous for was finally used for something good: to make people care about the world, in a way, rather than directing all that energy and exposure to stupid crap like Paris Hilton forgetting to wear panties when she gets out of a car, or OJ Simpson, or Michael Jackson's latest meltdown. The fact this election mattered to so many people, and people cared about stuff they didn't before, is really significant.
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