Escape to Europe, Our Election Follows

A business trip to Europe last week forced me to take a break from American politics and the nightly canvassing and phonebanking that has consumed my life for the past two months. I thought being away from the USA for six days would allow me a bit of respite from ever-increasing drama and intensity of the presidential campaign; that the global financial meltdown would be the one and only topic on the minds of Europeans.

I could not have been more wrong.

My trip started in Brussels, Belgium. My first clue that American politics reach firmly across the Atlantic ocean was in the pub where we had dinner. In the corner of dining room, a small television played. There, of course, were images of banks and stock markets and stern-faced commentators clearly discoursing on the collapse of some European bank or another. But equally prominent were the familiar faces of Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin (Joe Biden seems not to have their interest.)

My coworker nodded at the television. "So," he said, "It looks like Obama has it in your election, eh?"

I agreed that things were looking good for Senator Obama but told him that the Obama campaign was making no assumptions and continued to campaign hard all over the country. As our conversation continued, it became clear that he was a bit puzzled why the race was even close, given the demonstrable failings of the Republican party over the past eight years.

Later in the week I was in Germany and here, too, Obama and McCain's faces were on the television, in the newspapers and on magazine covers. Conversations with Germans inevitably turned to the election and everyone seemed eager for me to reassure them that, this time, America was going to get it right and elect Barack Obama. As one person put it, "I can understand how you Americans could make a mistake once [by electing George W. Bush.] But twice? That's hard to understand."

During another conversation, one of my German colleagues asked me, "What do you think of Sarah Palin?" Once it became clear that I thought she was a terrible candidate, he felt free to share his opinion that she was seen in Europe as a joke and not a serious choice. As if to confirm this, the next morning I opened a newspaper from Hamburg. In it was an article titled "Sarah Palin: Disasterous fur McCain". This country wasn't just watching the debates, they were focused on the details of the election.

The final event that made me realize just how international our presidential election has become happened in a tiny village nestled next to the Alps in northeastern Italy. Gemona del Friuli is best known for having been nearly leveled by an earthquake in 1976. It has been completely restored and this small town of about 11,000 is the quintessential Italian village complete with a Catholic cathedral and narrow cobblestone streets. I was there the night of the last presidential debate and, being a political junkie, I set my alarm for 3:00 a.m. to get up to watch it. I was relieved to find that the hotel's television got CNN International and that they were showing the debate. However, that wasn't my only choice. In this small Italian town at the base of the Alps, I could watch the debate in English on CNN, in English on the BBC and on no less than THREE other channels shown with a slight delay and translated instantly into Italian!

While Americans have been consumed with the presidential election for the past 20 months, it appears that the rest of the world has also been paying attention. Although they don't have a vote, the Europeans I spoke with clearly feel they have a stake in the outcome of this election and every single one of them was excited at the prospect of a President named Obama.

Comments

[rpetersen]

Chris, great article. One thing I hadn't seen in this article or in the comments is the website: http://IfTheWorldCouldVote.com/
Apologies in advance if this is old news to the Huffington Post, but I found it extremely interesting to see people from other countries casting votes in a virtual election for US President.

[TilmanH]

As I watch American news from Germany, it occurs to me that information about foreign countries is almost not existent. No information about culture, politics or important events, nothing about society and no information about what's going on in normal peoples lives outside of your borders. Foreign countries only exist as caricatures. Everyone should be very aware of the most important developments in foreign countries, and it bothers me that most Americans don't seem to know and don't seem to care either. This shocking ignorance is maybe the reason why the believed the lies of Bush and his friends. Although, this meight just be a cliche the other way round ;)

[Vilas]

I'm an American living in South Africa, and find people to be very much interested, and well educated, about the elections. I was fuelling up in a remote part of Namibia, and the fuel attendants started talking to me about issues - not just Iraq, but everything from US-Russia relations to domestic policy and how religion affects the campaign. These guys lived in a little village and had no electricity at home, but there was a TV in the village, and they said everyone would be up all night on November 4th.

It's not just remote villages. Friends of mine who are Afrikaans (let's face it, probably the most conservative group out there) are also supporting Obama, which is pretty shocking. I got high fives all over the place at the post office when I mentioned that I was sending in my ballot for Obama. Sure, you have some of the whites saying racist things...b­ut, well, it IS South Africa.

The world is watching..­.

[LibertiBelle]

The rest of the world does follow our politics closely.Wh­en Georgie got re-elected in 2004 my friends could not believe how stupid Americans were to do that to themselves.

I had a hard time explaining to them what I thought happened, and making sure all Americans were not lumped into hat group.I myself moved out of the Country for 3 years.

[zanzig]

I live in Australia and yes every newspaper here (even the tabloids) has a daily report on the US elections. This summer I travelled through Canada and while staying in B&Bs across the country found that Canadians, like the majority of Australians and New Zealanders had some very decided negative views about BushCo and about Americans for allowing the rape of democracy. There was almost unanimous hope that Sen Obama would win this election and change things. On my way home I had a week in London and a week in Dubai, and the views were pretty much the same across the board.

[onenvrnos]

Nearly 10 years ago, I visited northern Italy. It astonished me that their students knew more about
American history than did the American students (15 American students travelled on this trip with me). It also astonished me how closely the Italians followed our politics. With this election and so much riding on it, it would not surprise me one bit if Europeans are glued to the news. The world understands what this election means. I wish that more European bloggers would write to our world leaders and let them know how they feel and why they think Obama is the right choice for now and the future.

[ENOS]

New Ideology, New America

[Chris Savage - Huffpost Blogger]

I just received an email from one of the European (French) colleagues I spent time with last week. Sort of sums up my impressions in succinct form:

"Hi Chris,

I hope you did a good travel back home, and I would like to thank you for your report.

Best regards, and counting on Obama wins."

Me too.

[emily00011]

I've been living in Sweden the past 8 years... so I've completely missed the pleasure of the Bush years. Interest in US elections is always higher than for other countries, and interest is definitely much higher than in previous elections. There is much hope that Obama will change the course that Bush has taken. McCain is viewed as Bush pt 2. Something like 75% of Swedes and 83% of the Riksdagen want Obama to win.

There are stories everyday about the campaigns. The racist tones that McCain-Palin have taken are making news here too. The other day there was a big headline on a left-wing news site that Obama is going to become the next president. Palin is largely seen as a big joke. There are also weekly stories about America's decline in international standing, as well as America's economic and military influence. (I don't think "the base" even realizes what has happened outside the US, or they would be horrified.­) And of course, now the economy is going badly there are those that are glad that to see America's influence lessen even more. That religion matters so much in the US seems to amaze people, since it's regarded as a personal matter.

There's more, but I'll leave it at that. I'm hoping for some real change.

[slytot7]

I am currently in Zurich Switzerland, but alas I don't speak or read German so I don't know what they think out here. wish i knew

[yannb]

Am in Zürich too. I do speak German, and believe me, people are talking about the US elections. Just a couple of hours ago, coming back from work, I was walking right behind a 9 year old girl and her father. He was explaining to her (in incredibly intelligent terms) the US election process. From primaries to inauguration day. The whole thing. At some point, the girl asked (in German) "are the candidates nice to each other". The father responded "well, sometimes they are. At least they pretend to be". Finally, she asked "who is better, Obama or McCain?". The father said "that's up to you to decide".

[Chris Savage - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm very intrigued to read the comments here, particularly those from other countries. Clearly my experience was not only not unique but it was, apparently, quite representative of the mood around the world.

One other interesting fact I learned while in Europe was that the voter turnout rate in Belgium is 98%. Amazing. They are obligated to vote and face a small fine if they do not and this little incentive is enough to get people to the polls. We should have the same level of turnout and we shouldn't a fine to make it so.

[ByersL]

Look, most Americans are friendly, outgoing, and kind. The world WANTS to love us. Let's give them an easy reason to do so, by electing Barack Obama!

[ByersL]

In 1982 I traveled through North Africa. In Tunisia, a family "adopted" me for a week after I visited their shop in a small town there. The daughter was adorable, and painted my fingernails bright red for "America's colors." These people lived in a small covered structure with most of the home an uncovered square surrounded by a wall. We slept under the stars on beautiful carpets in their uncovered "living room." Every house ran a extremely long extension cord to a mulitple plug outlet, from the generator that each three or four homes shared. Though they had a small refrigerator, they cooked over fire, and their prized possession was a small color tv. One night, we were watching Ronald Reagan doing a press conference. It was dubbed because I guess not many could read. They were laughing so hard that I did too, though I had no idea what he was saying. The oldest boy translated for me then, and I had to agree: we were looking pretty awful as Americans with our Cold War politics. I have lost touch with them, and I wonder what that little girl must be thinking now about Obama being the next American President! What a country! (Thanks to Tim R!)

[Mostro]

The debates have also been broadcast live by the Spanish television.

[Mostro]

And there is no single day where news about the US election are not featured on the main newspapers of the country.
Obama is highly regarded here, and has been since the primaries started, mostly, at least at the beginning, for opposing the war in Iraq, something that 90% of the Spanish population did back then, when former Prime Minister Aznar decided to help "his friend Bush" by sending Spanish soldiers to fight there.

[nowalnuts]

This election will have a huge impact on the world so I'm not surprised. I'm only ashamed that people have to see Palin have a place on our national stage. During the Monica Lewinsky saga I was in the czech republic for a couple of months and I got asked endless times, "Why are the people in your country doing this to your president?" What Clinton had done was not an issue for any of the people I talked to but the fact that he was being interrogated over a sex scandal was being endlessly talked about wherever I went and always with incredulity.