Election Reflection

I’m sure you can guess which candidate the majority of people here were pulling for. There was an ad in the paper a day or two before the elections announcing a prayer meeting on behalf of Senator Obama. My roommate contrasted the slim margin of victory in the American election with the response of the losing candidate in Zambia’s recent presidential election. The loser, bested by a margin of 2%, alleged that the election had been stolen by “a bunch of thieves.” International election monitors didn’t report any serious irregularities. The losing candidate prior to the election had said that there was no way that he would lose.

I don’ t know that I have too much to add to the general storyline that you’ve been reading. The election clearly has won us lots of goodwill, even in a country like Ghana where the majority of the population was already favorably disposed towards the U.S. Obama’s victory is a tremendously powerful symbol. And the expectations which many Africans have attached to the man are completely unrealistic. In many ways, those expectations reflect an idealized understanding of America itself. Streets of gold, so to speak. Better in every way. In a recent editorial Nicholas Kristof wrote that America is best when it’s not just a place, but also an idea. I agree with the sentiment, but not the phrasing. For people who don’t live in America, America is always an idea. The idea may be that the US is the breeding ground of cultural arrogance and militant imperialism or the idea may be that it’s a place where you really can go as far as your abilities, not your connections or your skin color, will take you.

One thing that is important to add: many of the people I’ve talked have a pretty sophisticated understanding of American politics. The headline of the most popular newspaper on the day after the election was: US POLICY WON’T SHIFT. So there’s still an appreciation that American leaders will privilege American interests. And that’s ok, as long as long as that pursuit is tempered by respect for the rest of the world.