National issues
Mary Sanchez
Green with envy I was, upon receiving the text message a friend sent me from an exclusive reserved section during Barack Obama’s post-election gathering at Chicago’s Grant Park.
But an e-mail from a different friend the next morning, which began “Greetings from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” trumped it. And after hearing that friend recount how he celebrated the election of our nation’s first bi-racial president, I’m convinced the best place to do it was overseas.
My friend, an air cargo executive from Kansas City visiting Malaysia for a convention, was feeling the excitement of the world. The convention drew business people from many countries, and many were obsessively keeping tabs on the U.S. election throughout the day. Those with Blackberrys kept others updated as results came in, offering thumbs up and mouthing things like, “He just took Florida,” during work sessions.
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“A wildly diverse crowd of about 60 people were raptly watching and listening to a newly minted American president. You could have heard a pin drop. Smiles prevailed all around, and when Obama finished, the African businessman standing in front of me turned around, his cheeks traced with tears. He’d heard my colleague and me speaking and gathered my nationality. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘I love you, I love America. Congratulations.’ Now (recognized as) an American, I received congratulatory messages, handshakes and a few hugs – including most unexpectedly one from a Moslem woman in hair-covering. A German man told me ‘It’s like we have all won.’ ”
That pretty much says it. The world is now looking to the United States with hope.
It is a grace period, but not much of one. For as disenchanted and outright angered as much of the world has been with Bush administration foreign policy, they are now awaiting significant change from an Obama administration. And that realistically will not come quickly. Just as Obama’s election did not magically end all racism, neither can his tenure in office immediately repair the U.S. image globally. And, no doubt, Obama will likely make missteps.
And that is why I especially appreciate the understated wisdom of my world-traveling friend. He believes that in the eyes of the rest of the world, the election means a new start for the United States, nothing more and nothing less. Obama’s election will offer a chance of reconciliation with the rest of a world wearied by the either-with-us-or-against-us bravado of the Bush administration.
My friend has worked in 54 countries. He is unabashedly a Democrat. In fact, he has a penchant for starting debates wherever he goes, be it a coffee shop in suburban Kansas City or at a convention several time zones from his Midwestern home.
“I’ve found myself not infrequently apologizing for the conduct of an administration unfit to represent the nobility of the American people at large,” he says. He has been punched in the face in Jordan and spit upon in Switzerland, both incidents ungraceful rejoinders to U.S. foreign policy. “We are a lot more noble than our most visible representatives have shown us during the last few years,” he says. I agree.
Still, it would be easy to make too much of this moment in American history, and indeed some already have done so. Not to take anything away from the tears of Oprah Winfrey, or the many other African Americans who felt immense pride at Obama’s triumph, but it is dangerous to pack too much meaning to one man’s election without seeing what follows. Obama’s election is indeed a racial milestone. But whether it is remembered for more than that is yet to be written. Now he has to begin to lead.
And as the scene at that Malaysian hotel showed, much of the world, for now at least, is offering him well wishes as they await his first policy decisions.
As my friend commented, “It’s the benefit of the doubt, and that may be enough.”
Mary Sanchez is an opinion-page columnist for The Kansas City Star. Readers may write to her at: Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108-1413, or via e-mail at anchez@kcstar.com.
Comments
Former Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 7:45 PM:
Some people just don’t care who they hurt to advance their political agenda.
Accusing a loving father of two beautiful little girls of wanting to kill babies isn’t just wrong on the facts, it’s the most disgusting and manipulative kind of hate politics around. But anti-abortion ideologues with a long history of partisan attacks are still launching unconscionable ads smearing Barack Obama.
The attackers torture and twist logic and history by willfully misinterpreting votes by Barack Obama in the Illinois State Senate to come up with their wild accusation. "
guy wrote on Nov 21, 2008 5:21 PM:
Now, they should act like real Christians and do what they should had done for the past 30 years. That is tell people how great adoption is, talk about the plusses of making the choice to keeping the baby and making sure there is quality sex education for teenagers. "
mind your business wrote on Nov 21, 2008 2:43 PM:
Former Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 2:37 PM:
PJ wrote on Nov 21, 2008 1:36 PM:
Former Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 1:17 PM:
Current Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 12:03 PM:
Furthemore, I love it when Democrats say that Republicans haven't helped fight for the cause of life. Bush voted to ban partial birth abortions. Clinton vetoed that ban. Clinton started paying for abortions overseas - Bush stopped it. Obama will start it.
It's Democrats that say "war is illegal" when it was authorized - TWICE - by the congress, including the Democrats like HIllary Clinton, JOhn Kerry, and John Edwards. Is it illegal because the "world" didn't like it? Then we've got trouble if people want to throw away our sovereignty.
Should we not stop genocide in places like Nazi Germany, Darfur, Rwanda, and Somalia because that is "legislating morality." If it's o.k. to stop genocide, let's stop abortion. You can call that "legislating morality" if you want to. A basic sense of right and wrong - religion aside - says, "you know what, maybe it's wrong to kill your kid." "
Former Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 9:30 AM:
Phil Ayers wrote on Nov 20, 2008 9:45 PM:
He is very far left and will break the bank with his spending. "
murder wrote on Nov 20, 2008 6:31 PM:
Then why vote for a president that will most definitely go to war.(because, yes he did vote with bush 90% of the time)
That sounds a little hypocritical to me. "
E wrote on Nov 20, 2008 5:50 PM:
Sidney Resident wrote on Nov 20, 2008 5:26 PM:
We should worry less about whether or not abortion is a moral choice because that will only lead to a religious argument which shouldn't even be a factor when deciding laws. We should focus instead on the issue of whether or not the government should be able to control this very personal issue of our lives. "
Ken M. wrote on Nov 20, 2008 2:07 PM:
No one is proposing that you take a woman who has abortion out back and execute her. In fact, pro-life groups are among the most compassionate resources for pregnant women in the nation.
That's a red herring argument. And I agree - religious terminology for someone who has promised to make abortion easier and codify it into law is a little sacreligious. "
Pastor Jordan Hall wrote on Nov 20, 2008 12:04 PM:
1.3 million babies a year. Let me say that again. 1.3 MILLION BABIES A YEAR. Do you know how many are for rape and incest? Less than 1.02%.
Of course I believe killing a baby because it's father was a rapist or a pervert is wrong. Murder is murder, regardless of the reason.
But let me make this clear. I would love to pass a law that outlaws abortion EXCEPT in the cases of rape or incest. Do you know why? Over 1 million babies would be saved in the process. That's a good start.
Who said anything about killing women who have had abortions? Not me.
I'm talking about saving lives here, not destroying them.
Why is it you defend Obama, who not only supports abortion for rape and incest, but for elective reasons...who opposes parental notification. An underaged girl can't get a tylenol at school without parental notification, but Obama thinks she should get an abortion without parental notification. How sick is that?
Obama voted to allow partial birth abortions - babies that can survive easiy outside their mother, up to nine months of pregnancy. He also voted to not give them medical care if they survive an abortion, to let them die on a hospital shelf.
I may come off as insensitive to those who commit abortion, and for that I apologize - it is not my intent. Those women need to be loved and forgiven. But one thing's for sure. As a follower of Christ, I am not going to vote for a candidate that perpetuates murder. Period. And I stand by my statement - blood is on your hands. "
thinking wrote on Nov 19, 2008 6:33 PM:
Pastor Jordan Hall wrote on Nov 19, 2008 2:30 PM:
Furthemore, might I say that I am one of a large contingent of people that don't care what people in the third world think of our electoral process? Why must we strive to be like second class, starving, socialist nations that require our nation to save them every time trouble occurs?
By the way, an interesting bit of trivia for those who keep calling our President "dumb." Did you know he got better grades in Yale as did either Obama or Kerry?
Some people would rather have someone lie to them well than tell the truth poorly. For one, I say thanks to George W. Bush. Thanks for signing the ban on partial birth abortion. Thanks for supporting traditional marriage.Thanks for backing faith-based initiatives. Furthermore, and I say this with a clear conscience, "Praise God" for George W. Bush.
And for those who support Obama, when he signs the Freedom of Choice Act, the blood is on your hands. "
Ingrid wrote on Nov 14, 2008 3:11 PM:
Today the World is happily surprised that 63 million people got it right in electing intellect over fear mongering.
Thank God for Barack Obama! Thank God 63 million people opened their eyes, opened a newspaper, and supported justice rather than corporatism destroying Americans. Hallelujah! We finally have a President with intellect! Thank God no more puppets! For those still brainwashed, how would you like a journalism major, Sarah Palin, operating on you. I'd rather have talent for President of our great nation than one who just says the word prolife without thought of tubal PG, rape, HBP.... I'm thankful that now people's loved ones will be less likely to be turned away from quality care. "