"People all over the world..."
I can't get that damn song out of my head! You know the one? From Obama's campaign? "People all over the world, join hands" and then something something "love train-a love train" It is driving me nuts. And the people around me as a I spontaneously break into song. I have to say people are very keen to talk to me about the election. Everyone is under the impression that Americans are too racist and backwards to vote for a black man. How sad is that? There has also been a news report that Americans from the Mid-West are put off by Obama because he is too thin. They find it offensive. I'm not joking-this was a real news story. The British will do anything to keep the stereotype of Americans as being stupid and fat and unhealthy up to date.
In other news I have decided to postpone the marathon and will be now doing it in...Venice! I have been sick for the last three weeks and have not been running like I should so instead of risking injury I decided to delay the race until the end of October, which is when the Venice marathon is. How excited am I? I was keen to do the Budapest marathon but not overly excited as we would fly in, run the race and then fly out. But now I get a whole week vacation in Italy. Yay! I was really worried about not being ready in time and now that I have an extra three weeks I feel so much better. (mentally, not physically. Still feel a bit ill)
Now that I don't live with a cat I have picked up my knitting needles again. Once I have completed something I will post a picture. Strangely knitting is beginning to hurt my hands. Guess I need to build up those muscles again!
posted by Amber @ 6:44 AM
1 Comments:
I had the same experience when travelling to Indonesia... people are VERY INTERESTED in the election. I think that most people we talked to in Indonesia worked Obama into the conversation at some point in time, usually within the first 10 minutes of talking to us.
I've noticed an interesting phenomena here in the States. People talk about how Obama will lose because there are still racists in America; but I can't figure out how they know this. After all, very few Americans feel comfortable saying, "I'm not gonna vote for no black man!" (or a grammatically correct version of it). And yet, people are convinced that America is too racist to elect Obama. Is this because they are FEARFUL that America is too racist? Because they see evidence of racism in their own lives and assume it will transfer into politics? Or is it just easier to believe that Obama can't win because he's black? Do they detect a vaguely racist sneer behind the, "He's a rock star," or comments on CNN like, "You liked Obama's speech, now let's see who else has drunk the kool-aid"? Or is it the popularity of the more overt stuff about Barak "Hussein" Obama?
I have heard it firmly stated that people who SAY they will vote for Obama are just lying, and when they get into the polling booth, they won't be able to vote for a black man. Who is right? I wonder if we will ever really know the answer to that question. It's not like there isn't legitimate concern about Obama's lack of experience. But I do suspect this: if America isn't going to elect Obama in the next 0-12 years, it probably won't elect ANY black man for a very very very long time.
Smadely
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