Election Day - China Style

As I sit here eating my dinner of oily street noodles (yes they came in a bag) and a half dozen Satsumas (the whole meal costing approximately 57 cents), I can't help but smile. The last few days have been extraordinarily exciting for us here in Qufu, at least concerning the election. I'd like to share some of the feelings I've had over the course of this last election, but especially over the last few days. As a disclaimer, what follows is political rambling backed up by very little evidence of anything other than my own opinion, so if that doesn't sound appealing to you, I fart in your general direction, and please go away (before I taunt you a second time). I rarely find it prudent to rant politically, but I'd like to take this moment to do so.

First and foremost, I have found myself swept up in the party vibe I have been getting from friends and family, all the way across the world. I make no claims toward being an overly ambitious person when it comes to politics - I fully understand the importance of voting and have always felt compelled to do so, however this has really been the extent of my political activity. I've never campaigned or attempted to get those around me to vote my way or really made that extra effort. This is of course due in part to the fact that I have been, for the entirety of my voting-able life, surrounded by screaming liberals. At Skidmore, the few conservatives around were so dug into their trenches that you could hold a smoking gun to their face, say take a whiff, and they would shout and ardently ask to see the proof, all the while obviously not listening to a word you said about how, you were in fact, holding a gun, recently fired by those they were defending, and it was still warm. This election was really no different for me, up until about two weeks before election day. I'm not really sure what changed, but I found myself following the polls and the New York Times religiously in the days leading up to the election. As Tuesday got closer and closer, and the numbers stood fast in Obama's favor, I began to realize what was different for me. While I personally have enjoyed every chance to jab, poke, insult, and generally bash George Dubyah, I always thought of myself as, in general, very dismissive of his reign of terror - never really being motivated past this dismissiveness to really try and change what was happening. Perhaps the thought of actually caring was just too painful, or maybe it had just become so routine that I simply didn't care anymore, but it was how I felt, and thus I didn't expect much to change because of the election. When your head is surrounded by smoke, it's hard to see anything else without help.

Now that the smoke has cleared, I have come to realize just how angry, fed-up, and brutally pessimistic I had been about the last eight years. I can honestly say I didn't realize the extremity of it until now. I can only describe it as suddenly realizing you have that feeling that, the whole while you knew something was unjust, wrong, or just plain stupid with every fiber of your being, but being completely unable to pinpoint WHAT, while at the same time feeling completely helpless to do anything about it - like a teenager pissed off at the whole world for just not getting it, all over again. Almost as if I had been repressing the sentiment that, if everybody would just STOP being WRONG all the time, you might learn something.

The election of Obama has lifted the pessimism off my shoulders like it has done to many other Americans, not because I harbor the belief that he will fix the world - the man is not a miracle worker, but simply because the world really, really needed a win. It feels good, and I mean really good, to have something go right for once. For once, the political Red Herring's didn't work - people got tired of the slander, the slur campaigns, the focus on issues simply to get elected, the negativity of it all. The cycle has been broken. The last time the presidency was not held by a Bush or Clinton, I was two. TWO.

When I say the World needed this, I think that maybe this is why I feel as strongly as I do about Obama winning as apposed to McCain. The opinion which exists of our country within the rest of the world is so brutally embarrassing, and has been for so long, that the thought of identifying myself as American is just not appealing, and that INFURIATES me. I really like America. I really like being from America, and the idea of being able to hold my head high and saying, "look! we didn't just think of ourselves this time! You can come play too, world!" makes me happy. really happy.

I received an email from a friend here in China, Li Zhao (we have dubbed him Elvis Thomas Lee, because he really wanted an English name), once the election had been finalized, entitled: "congratulations to Obama," and reads as follows:

My American Friend:

I on behalf of myself congratulations to Obama was elected the President of the United States!

Elvis

I share this with you simply to show that, yes, the world did notice that we got something right, and yes, they care. Anyone who has seen a newspaper in the last few days I'm sure can agree. This above all else, is what makes me happy about this election, and I think is why I am smiling most of all. This didn't just give Americans hope, it gave people all over the world hope, and I don't think that can be understated. Ever so slowly the sense of impending doom is receding...