The fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday, mostly because red is my favorite color, I love LOVE fireworks, and I like to eat summery foods. Rarely did my love of the holiday have anything to do with the actual holiday, our independence day. Perhaps because my Dad always brought people from around the world to our house (Sri Lankans, Kuwaitis, Japanese, Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Spaniards, Thais) and I learned quickly about other countries perceptions of the US. (My Dad was the XO of many a Navy base, and ironically, I was always hesitant to be patriotic.) Then I lived abroad (1999-2000) when the Bush campaign was underway and it was nerve-wracking to watch another Bush come in and we had no idea the kind of havoc he would wreak. I continued to travel elsewhere, and lied about my nationality. (I'm Canadian, I'm Spanish, I'm Blah Blahian.) As many of you know, being American has its curses abroad - you are clearly loaded, snobby, love war, easy, back-stabbing, etc. As one of the least whorish, wealthy, snobby Americans out there, it was (is) sometimes awkward to confront those stereotypes. And then there's Bush, making it harder by the day to even want to live within the confines of this country. And along comes Barack Obama, who I must admit I did not take seriously at first. He was too young, too idealistic, too inexperienced, too intellectual. I doubted him for the first few weeks. I assumed that Hillary, a known-entity, would be able to handle it. The more I listened, however, and the more I researched, the more I learned. And the more I began to believe in Obama as a person, as a man, as a leader. He may not be able to change the world much in these coming years, and who knows how he's going to be able to keep his wits about him with the deficit, war(s), failing educational system, hatred, intolerance, and crap economy sneering in his face. But his pragmatisim, his sincerity, his normalcy give me great hope and excitement: maybe things can change. Maybe our government can serve our needs. Maybe our kids can have good teachers in good schools, maybe we can have health care, all these things that seem so basic and yet our literacy rates slide monthly and children die of the flu while their hard-working parents go bankrupt for the medical bills. I DO believe in OUR power to CHANGE.
And thusly, today, I am proud to be an American. Michael Moore, for all his silly antics, summed it up quite nicely here. And the world (India, Pakistan, France, Japan, etc.), documented here, celebrated the end of a bitter regime. Italy notes the change here. My friends from Spain emailed me congratulations and my friend Ivan even called me (I was in Spain during the Christmas holidays immediately following both the 2000 and the 2004 elections and the afermath wrath in Europe was palpable) to congratulate me and my fellow Americans on "not deceiving the rest of the world with stupidity and pranks. Again." (Gracias por no decepcionarnos en el mundo con estupidez y trucos. Otra vez.) For cheapo Ivan to actually make the call is pretty amazing.
While I miss the intellectual safehouse of university life, I am fortunate to work in one of the more liberal non-academic jobs out there. The Rock Hall is chock full of Obama-supporters. But what surprised me more than that was Cleveland - and more broadly Cuyahoga County - as a whole: 68% of one of the largest, most populated counties in the state went to Obama. The poor, impoverished, disenfranchised Ohioans of sad little economically-depreseed Cleveland decided that they have had enough. That it's time for CHANGE.
Yes we can. And in case you didn't see Will.I.Am's version, Yes we can.
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