Continental Divide: Following "Super Tuesday" from Abroad

Living an ocean away from the U.S. makes me particularly anxious about Super Tuesday. Maybe I'm anxious because my husband is in the military and this entire election has significant meaning for us. Maybe my anxiety is due to the fact that I have to reconcile differing time zones with the media reports coming from various voting districts. Or, perhaps, I am on pins-and-needles because, being so far away from my homeland, I feel somewhat helpless and removed.

The fact that I've switched from a registered Independent to a Democrat so that I could vote in the Florida primary (my official U.S. state residence) only to have those delegates stripped, doesn't help matters any. With my absentee ballot shunned, I am curious to see how the rest of America will vote. Their votes will be watched by millions of Americans, those inside its borders and abroad.

I wonder if America is aware of how intently the rest of the world follows the U.S. elections. Here, in the U.K., the race for the U.S. presidential nomination has been a lead fixture of any evening news broadcast. Although I rev up my laptop each morning to follow the latest on the elections, I know I can tune into the nightly BBC news and find much of the same information. The rest of the world is ready to purge "Dubya" from his throne as much as we are. This desire has created a kind of unity between America and the rest of the world that has been missing for far too long. The loathing that stemmed from the outcome of the 2004 elections has morphed into an international hope for something new.

If Clinton gets the nomination, America will join the world in welcoming the possibility of a female leader. If Obama gets the nomination, our country may very well elect its first African-American president. Either way, we will eclipse our antiquated presidential traditions and step into a progressive, modern world. Either way, Bush will be on his way out.

The prospects of the upcoming election has made it a little easier to be an American living abroad. Whereas, in the past, I felt like I was always defending myself and apologizing for the 2000 and 2004 debacles, I now find myself engaged in excited conversation about what the future might bring. Even among those I encounter in the military, a sense of shifting ideals hangs in the air. In 2004, I was one of only two people living on a military base in Japan that had a "Kerry/Edwards" bumper sticker proudly displayed on their car. I get the feeling that these pro-Democrat declarations won't be so rare this time around. The Republican/Military majority seems to be dwindling by the day.

So, I will be staying up late on Super Tuesday and getting up early on the following Wednesday to discover the results. Living across the Atlantic may make me anxious, but the possibility of a new era in America makes every nervous second worthwhile.