Postcards from Germany: An American Election in Europe
By Ashley Moore
For Guymon Daily Herald
November 15th, 2008
I don't think it really mattered who the winner was last Tuesday; for a majority of Germans, it only mattered that the U.S. would have a new president. (**See NOTES below!**) According to Gallup polls, 62% of Germans believe that the 2008 American presidential election makes a difference in their country. The German coverage of last Tuesday's voting on television, radio and the Internet seems to attest to the keen interest nearly everyone here had in what was happening across the Atlantic. If you think about it, that's pretty amazing. I mean, when was the last time that you were so intensely interested in a foreign election that you followed it for months? It probably hasn't even happened, and four years ago, it wouldn't have happened here in Germany. But with wars in the Middle East and a worldwide financial crisis that's affecting the German economy as much as America's – it's now official that the European Union is in a recession – interest in the future direction of U.S. policy is high here.
It's no secret that political relations between the U.S. and Europe have soured under the current administration. The effects of that aren't just confined to politics, however; being an American overseas hasn't been easy for the past several years. Many people have preconceptions about us based on the kind of president we've had. To wit, the German language now has a derisive term for American – der Ami – which, ironically, is also the French word for friend. I knew it wouldn't always be pleasant being in Germany while President Bush was in charge, but I also believed in people's abilities to see past nationality to the person inside. By and large people here haven't let me down, though I have had run-ins with a few chauvinists who've ridiculed me simply for being from the U.S. More often, however, it's been encouraging to realize that once a personal face is put on "American", people are usually extremely curious about and open to us. Even more uplifting has been the realization that once differences are put aside and people are given a chance, hearts are actually changed. Some friends have told me that they had no interest in Americans or even visiting the U.S. before hearing about the people and culture of Oklahoma and the South, where most of my mother's family lives. Some even got so wrapped up in the excitement that we organized a "country night" complete with Carrie Underwood tunes, attempts at two-stepping and fried okra. Even though these are pretty superficial aspects of "culture", sharing my home state and the U.S. with friends has only reinforced the pride I feel in being an Oklahoman. I think that after last week's election – and Paris' "Bye, Bye Bush" party – many in Europe are also optimistic about the U.S.'s future and a renewed relationship with the States. A few Germans even reached out with food: one restaurant here in Bayreuth served hamburgers and cheeseburgers all last week in celebration!
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**NOTES** This article was written for my hometown newspaper. Friends and family are too important to me to let politics be divisive, and making an overtly partisan statement in my hometown newspaper wouldn't have made any sense. For this reason, I tried to keep this article as neutral as possible. Here are some of the details that I excluded from the article but want to include in the blog:
The same Gallup polling that showed a high interest in this year's presidential election also showed that if the election were held in Germany, Germans would elect Barack Obama by an incredibly wide margin: 63% favored Obama to 10% for McCain. The other 27% were undecided or did not give Gallup an answer. In fact, Gallup did a massive international poll that showed the world would elect Obama by a 4-to-1 margin.
My group of friends, my colleagues and my classmates come from all over the world -- Germany, Israel, Greece, India, Serbia, Canada, Australia, England, South Africa, just to name a few -- and every single person who spoke with me was excited about the election and pulling for Obama to win. Three friends stayed up with me late into the night on Tuesday awaiting election results, and others greeted me the next day jumping up and down over Obama's victory. Everyone here was excited, and the restaurant that I mention above as selling American food "in celebration" actually served "Hamburgers a la Obama" to commemorate the President-elect's win.
Obama won over many Germans earlier this year after calling for renewed ties between the U.S. and Europe during a speech in Berlin that drew over 200,000 spectators. The site of his address was symbolic, as the formerly divided German capital should represent the kinds of alliances that helped to end such world threats as Soviet-style communism. According to Obama, “The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down."