Politics from Overseas... election results!
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2008
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13
15
Trip End
Dec 02, 2008
Rosario,
Argentina
Friday, November 7, 2008
So the elections were Tuesday. Our program paid for us to have a little "election party" at a local restaurant. It was basically the 40 of us going out to eat and watching the election updates on a giant TV. It was really fun. And the thing I was most excited about was the promise of the end of the questions from any cabbie or store clerk: "American? Obama or McCain?" Rosario is overwhelmingly pro-Obama, and I can't figure out why-because they have no good reasons. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with either candidate-for the record, I sent my absentee ballot in a few weeks ago and I'm pleased with my selection, but I don't see anything terribly wrong with either candidate; I think each candidate ran an excellent campaign and would have done a splendid job at running our country. But Rosarinos (the citizens here) are so incredibly anti-McCain, and without good reason. My family, especially. "Obama this" and "Obama that." And I think it's excellent to stand for something, to really believe in the politics that represent you best. But I think there's only a very SELECT FEW Rosarinos who actually know something about the issues at hand in the election. The only reason I've heard people give for wanting Obama to be elected the next CEO of our country is because he's black. I personally don't think color should play any sort of role in deciding a person's ability to do something. I think he'll make an excellent President of our country, and I was overwhelmingly moved by his acceptance address (did all of you watch it? you should. I was not able to stay up late enough to watch it here, but I downloaded it on CNN the next day), but I don't think all that comes from the color of his skin. Even the major newspapers here in Argentina (yes, national newspapers) focused on the fact that America has a black president. Rosario was SO interested in the election, which was interesting for me to see as an American. I can't tell you the last time I interested myself with the elections in any other country. Just shows how big a role America is playing on the world's stage, doesn't it?
Anyway, I thought it would be cool to buy a newspaper on Wednesday-the day after the election. Especially because their headlines were so freakin' controversial. But, alas, every newsstand I walked by was SOLD OUT of papers at about 11 AM. Can you imagine? Big news for Argentina, I guess. Lucky me, though-I went to a café Thursday and asked whether they had any old papers from Wednesday. They had one, and I asked how much they wanted for it, but they gave it to me for free. How sweet. Anyway, I was sitting at my table and drinking coffee when a guy came up, said "excuse me" (in Spanish), grabbed my paper, and walked over to his table and proceeded to read MY paper without waiting for my response. How rude! Did he think that I wasn't even going to read it? Just cuz I'm an American? I can read your newspaper, sir. So I waited for him to flip through MY newspaper (with his grubby little butter-covered fingers between sips of café con leche) and then I went up to him and asked "Can I have MY newspaper back, please?" He looked surprised (because it was mine and not just some random newspaper sitting by me) and gave it back. I then walked away. But the front page headline says "Un Negro llega por primera vez a La Casa Blanca," which means "A Negro comes to the White House for the first time." That's what the newspaper focused on. Anyway, I have it. And I'm glad I got it.
That's Rosario in a nutshell right about now. This weekend we're going to Buenos Aires. I'm not overly excited, but will be going with an open mind. I'll write more later!
