Except that it was not the traditional poor ‘White’ Dems that elected him but instead a very heavy African-American vote with strong support from the never before registered to vote youths and many ex-Moderate Republicans like myself that were disenfranchised by their own party but heard a Real Message of Change and Hope in Obama and are proud that our country could nominate a “Black” man for the highest office. Obama pulled in many independents like my wife and seemed to have won over the lion share of the well-educated greenish voters. I note the heart of the democratic party seem to vote overwhelmingly for Clinton.
Obama might be doing to the Dems what Reagan accidentally(?) did to the Republicans and change the heart of the party from Ted Kennedy to something new. (Except in this case the change looks to be a positive one and what Reagan unleashed was a nightmare (Yes I am talking about the hijack of the Republicans by the Theo-crats)).
So on behalf of this one America, Thank you for the intent of your post Leaffan. I think I get what you meant.
The rest of the world has every right to be interested in US politics, especially after the abysmal debacle of the Bush regime that has effected them as well. I can imagine there is a collective sigh of relief around the world that not every American is an illiterate, bible-thumping, raging war monger.
Even if Obama should lose in the General Election (which I highly doubt), it still shows there is a huge number of Americans who are aware that some major changes are in desperate order. It will be a lot harder to lump us all together when the rest of the world sees that a huge chunk of Americans at least tried to change direction.
So, thank you for your compliment!
As an American, I am proud to see Obama be nominated and have his picture be on the front pages of newspapers around the world. That alone speaks volumes.
I would agree, and add that I think it was more than a few, based on what happened down here in the South. A bunch of people I know thought Obama had no chance in Georgia & Alabama, but I was pretty sure the Hillary hate would help him carry the day.
Perhaps he just saw the movie Blue State. It’s really not worth watching, but near the end there are some fairly unkind things said about Americans by Canadians, such as “Explain to me how so many fat, stupid people can run a country the size of the U.S.”, or something to that effect.
This is what I’m thinking. I can’t speak for all Canadians (yet), but when you guys re-elected Bush when you had a chance to make him go away, we were not impressed.
Of course, most of the reason we can make fun of your politicians is because you guys don’t care in the slightest about ours, or you’d probably never stop making fun of us.
Yes. But anyone who has traveled outside of the US in the past six years knows that American tourists traveling abroad have had to wear Canadian flags to avoid being spit on and called names - or worse. That is a pretty sorry state of affairs when we have to hide behind another country’s flag unless we have a battalion in front of us. Thank you Canada!
Maybe some of you don’t give a rat’s ass what the rest of the world thinks of us, but when even our closest so-called allies are fed up with our antics, maybe they are on to something.
I have friends throughout Europe, and a few in New Zealand. They have all been watching this Primary with great interest. Every one of them is impressed with the amazing voter turnout and enthusiasm of American voters for both a woman and a black man. And for the first time, in a very long time, they see a spark of the American idealism that has long been our calling card.
So yes, I am more than happy to take any compliments, backhanded or not, from foreign friends and fellow Dopers. I haven’t heard any compliments about the US in a very, very long time.
I spend most of my time in Asia and this has never happened to me. Sorry, but I call bullshit on this one, unless, of course, you mean to assert that a few countries in the privileged western portion of contintental Europe = the entire world.
It has been general knowledge on this board, and every travel board - including the State Department, that Americans have been advised to keep a very low profile for several years now; including those snooty, (apparently for you irrelevant) “privileged” Europeans, plus South America, Africa, Arab states and yes, Asian countries.
Or are you telling me you wore a huge American flag on your backpack and marched through every city you went? Joined in discussions, proudly stating you were American wherever you were? Got happy smiles, grins and pats on the back for a job well done?
If that is your stand, then I call bullshit right back at ya.
I’m typing slowly here, so you can read along more easily: I’m saying that I have never “had to wear Canadian flags to avoid being spit on and called names”. I’ve travelled throughout Asia and by my experience this assertion is patently ridiculous.
Perhaps they are more polite in Asia and don’t spit.
Still waiting to hear you wore your American flag with pride in Asia and have been greeted with happy grins and pats on the back for the job well done.
That would be an assertion that is equally patently ridiculous.
You admit your assertion is ridiculous, and try to justify it by equating it with a statement that I didn’t make or imply. You’re a bit of a twerp, aren’t you?
