Obama Wins Election

Living in France without fellow American expats in my social circle, I had a very different kind of election night.

I was awoken just after 5 AM today with news of the election in the US. Friends, who were nine hours behind me in California, called full of excitement to say that YES!, Obama had passed the 270 votes needed, and, Don’t worry, you can now be proud to be an American abroad! These words proved true almost immediately and it didn’t even take Bush being shoved off the playing field to happen.

Obama’s acceptance speech fed into the deep-rooted values and expectations that define how we as Americans understand ourselves. His climb to the presidency seems to affirm the American dream that we so strongly cling to, that we as individuals, communities and a nation have the power to become something better through hope, energy, and hard work.

Watching Obama speak live in Chicago, I was struck by the power of these values to create change in a positive direction. Far away from the frenzy and awe in Chicago, I burst into tears of relief and joy that we as a country had chosen a black president. I cried because we had chosen someone who includes gays, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and the disabled in his acceptance speech. And I sobbed because we had chosen someone who highlights the need for compassion for others and service. From far away, the dream of moving in a forward direction towards a brighter future seemed kinetic, alive and possible.

I also shed a few tears because I was suddenly aware that I identified so strongly with the unyielding hope that is sewn into our cultural personality, and I felt a part of that hopeful American community. My optimism for Obama and the US put me in strong contrast to the general French perspective. In France, to be optimistic is to be ignorantly blind to the catastrophe that will ultimately arrive. Ask your average French person if he thought Obama would be elected prior to the elections and you would have heard a resounding no, the US is fundamentally racist. Talk to the same person now that Obama has been elected and he will be doubtful that Obama can orchestrate much change before he is assassinated by a gun-wielding backwoodsman.

Hope might not have been a good campaign slogan in France. And yet the words "hope" and "change" have been all over the French media for months thanks to the extensive coverage of the elections. The breadth of this coverage has been astounding by American standards; it is very much everywhere, everyday and puts our coverage of any other country's elections to shame. However, many French have had their fill of such ubiquitous coverage and are relieved to get Obama in office and off the airwaves and news pages.

Despite their lack of hope for the American electorate’s ability to elect Obama, the French do see him as a positive change and are generally Obamamaniacs. Around 85% of the French wanted Obama to win the election! And yet there are some very strong differences between the left here and Obama’s version, and many French might not realize how Obama might not be everything a French leftist party would be. Two differences are Obama’s support of the death penalty, and the French self-proclaimed socialism, a nomenclature Obama avoids.

The question of Obama’s race plays an even larger role in France than in the US. I find France a deeply racist country, but the French think of American racism as more widespread and far-reaching than their version. Thus, the French feel Obama’s election marks a shocking turn away from traditional American racism and is significant mainly for this reason. Obama’s race is part of his appeal for many in the US, while a reason not to vote for him for others. His race actually energized many people, both black and white, to vote for him, a fact that is lost on French cynicism. In the US the fact that he is part Kenyan and black helps him encapsulate the American dream of progressing towards a more ideal version of ourselves. It is just a shame, and ironic, that it took Bush to push us towards Obama.