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World Holding Its Breath
The long road to the U.S. presidential election has gripped people all over the world. Millions have followed the horse race minute by minute, puzzled over the gaffes and slogans, and figuratively scratched their heads. This campaign has challenged the deeply held image of a racist America.
I spent the weekend at a large conference on anti-corruption in Athens in a diverse group of some 1500-plus people from 135 countries. The tension over an election many thousands of miles away was palpable as Tuesday approached.
For months I have been deeply saddened by the frequent assertion by people from many places that, when the final showdown came, Americans simply would not elect a black president. Arguments and polls notwithstanding, the conviction speaks to deeply held perceptions of America. While the ideals of the United States draw admiration around the globe, they have always coexisted with another, darker perception - the "Ugly American" images, tarnished further by Guantanamo, Abu Graib and plenty of other grist.
So the tension in Athens is tied to a wonder and hope. If indeed Americans vote as the polls suggest they will and elect Barack Obama, perhaps the ideals will prevail and banish that other vision. Perhaps then America will reclaim a leadership role grounded not in raw power, not in the bully's demands, but in the dreams of a just world yearning for an ideal to emulate.
By Katherine Marshall |
November 4, 2008; 12:00 AM ET
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Posted by: Paganplace | November 5, 2008 4:30 PM
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"So the tension in Athens is tied to a wonder and hope. If indeed Americans vote as the polls suggest they will and elect Barack Obama, perhaps the ideals will prevail and banish that other vision. Perhaps then America will reclaim a leadership role grounded not in raw power, not in the bully's demands, but in the dreams of a just world yearning for an ideal to emulate."
Hello, world.
I told you we had a management problem over here, but we were working on it.
Thanks for believing in us as we've always wanted to be. There's a whole lot of work to get down to when the cheering dies down over here.
But. Consider this a show of bona fides.
Give my salutations to the Parthenon. :)
Posted by: Paganplace | November 5, 2008 4:25 PM
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I switched to Blackle
http://www.blackle.com/
Black is the new green or something. The young people are always coming up with something new. I wish I was young again.
Posted by: Jim | November 5, 2008 8:14 AM
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The bread will be white and you'll be standing in long lines for it. We're looking at more economic trouble than ever before in history, so black white yellow or what have you doesn't make a bit of difference. Real estate is going to keep dropping along with the markets, so the next president is going to have real problems. The federal government is basically broke too, so it goes and we'll see what happens. The country has been run into the ditch. The locals here are building a bigger morgue and the tax base is shot. Good luck next president.
Posted by: Jim | November 4, 2008 9:57 PM
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A humble suggestion:
Why not make election day a Saturday the next time round, so that more people can get to vote, stay up all night for election results and celebrate all Sunday?
Posted by: Obama Well Wisher | November 4, 2008 9:35 PM
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If we get four more years without health care, with more layoffs, with more bloodshed in Iraq--in short if we have another disastrous Republican administration, we'll all know where to look--right at the Vatican and all the Catholodroids of America, along with the right-wing Protestants, their partners in crime.
Posted by: Observer12 | November 4, 2008 8:53 PM
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Looking at the returns, I'd say all these sad people are going to be happy tonight. I don't believe McCain and Palin can come out on top. Big money moves numbers and Obama will win. It's over.
Posted by: Jim | November 4, 2008 8:53 PM
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Tiger Woods, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Oprah Winfrey.......are all black Americans.
So where is the problem?
Senator Obama is only half black and he was raised entirely by the white side of his family. He is truly a white man with a black skin. Neither America nor the world should worry about his blackness, if that is ever to be a worry at all. Disappointed are going to black Americans who will expect much more from him than he is ever likely to deliver to them. Only black Americans who expect special favor as blacks are likely to be disappointed because a President Obama will consider them only as one more ethnic group he has been elected to govern.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 4, 2008 8:46 PM
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I am a Canadian and I whole heartedly agree with this view and suggest that the rest of the world does too. We can not vote in your election but we are hoping that the polls are right and Obama wins. Why? Well we, as well as many other friendly nations in the world, have been saddened by the last two terms of the Bush administration. We are hoping that the United States will return to it's past position of responsible leader of the western world. We do not need, nor want, any part of a scary neo-conservative United States that may possibly be led by Sara Palin.
Posted by: Malcolm Camps | November 4, 2008 7:16 PM
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Don't be sad. I was thinking about this sort of thing. If it will it will. Maybe God wants Obama to be a Justice or Judge and that's why Obama ended up with all that legal training. People in general aren't racist. That's a small minority. People are more likely to vote against him because of other things, but he's the favorite to win and might just do so. I'm always for the losers. The winners don't need you and there are plenty of losers that need help. No matter who comes out ahead, we are facing some difficult times ahead. I was looking over the numbers and got to the point where you can't even chart them. It's like that and it's not neat.
Posted by: Jim | November 4, 2008 5:07 PM
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Yes, racism and other prejudices are alive and well throughout the world. I agree that we should not let others' perceptions be a primary consideration in our own decisions. But surely we can act within the spirit of international law and cooperation to shed ourselves of the well-deserved mantle of arrogance and lawlessness that we've earned under Bush/Cheney.
Posted by: zachwes | November 4, 2008 2:57 PM
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The sad irony is that so many people from many nations all around the world can be just as racist/prejudiced as so many think the average American to be.
It annoyed me hearing stuff to the effect that Americans are little more than bigoted, uneducated yokels while I was in Austria this summer, when I see how so many of them regard the Turkish immigrants coming into the continent (and others).
No group of people is perfect, and more power to us if as a whole we can see past race (and we're ever continuing in that direction), but the last thing we should do is make major decisions affecting us first and foremost based upon any slanted view of us by any of our foreign peers.
Posted by: Wakka Wakka | November 4, 2008 2:44 PM
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I wholeheartedly agree! I was in London in April, lunching in a tiny cafe when some uniformed school boys asked me if I was an American. When I said yes, they asked me who I supported for President (the primaries were still going on). When I said that of the remaining top contenders I would probably support Obama, one of the boys sincerely said "So you're not a racist then?" When I chuckled and responded that many if not most Americans are not racist, he said "Only in Texas?"
Perceptions are reality, and if nothing else, an Obama victory will indeed help to raise the way the rest of the world views America and Americans. That can only help us, and them.
Posted by: zachwes | November 4, 2008 2:23 PM
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Silly world.
The world believes the US is a movie. In fact, I have had European friends who actually believe that...
All powerful, almighty, invincible. Clean and shiny and good.
The world is mistaken. The US is the culmination of an idea, and not the kind of tribalism that still dominates Europe. The day a Pakistani is President of the EU is the day the world will begin to understand the burden of the perception of superpower.
Posted by: SisterH | November 4, 2008 2:19 PM
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The comments to this entry are closed.
I mean, hey, it's been observed that America is the nation that does the right thing... after all else fails.
But when we learn something, we've got it *down,* I tell you. :)
Thank you for your patience. :)