Since I’ve last written the monumental election has occurred. Barack Obama will be in the next president of the United States of America. Election night was preceded by many Senegalese, including my host family, taxi drivers, and random people on the street asking me if I had voted, and if I had voted for Obama. (In actuality, voting in Michigan or New Jersey would have made no difference as Obama heavily carried both. And watching everyone else deal with the absentee ballot procedure ridiculousness was enough to keep me from dealing with it. Great idea America to say that certain absentee ballots have to be printed out, filled out by hand, scaned, turned into a PDF and emailed back to the states. That really makes sense when there are power outages each day. Seriously. Get it together. [But I would have voted for Obama and I’m bummed that I didn’t get to be that part of history.] )
Anyway, There is no sense of privacy here about whom you vote for. In the States it’s a rather hush-hush matter that is not often discussed outside close groups of friends. Or perhaps you do know someone’s political leanings, but you would never flat out ask. You have already secretly discovered or have a sense of what they would vote.
We passed Tuesday night at Club Atlantique, which is owned by the US Embassy. If you hold a USA passport, or are a member of the club or were invited by either an American or a club member you were able to pass the night watching the returns come in on the big screen TV they had set up. It was so strange to see the club, which had a very bizarre southern 1950’s feel to it, with the warm night with a fresh breeze, white people sitting around the pool and bar and the Senegalese working the bar and snack shack.
Everyone in my program showed up for at least some part of the night, most of us stayed the whole night. The bar was serving “red state, blue state” drinks, and we found out later during the whole night only two “red states” were made. There were at most 40 people there during the night, and a group of about 25 by the end of the night. With CNN playing, we waited with anticipation, though myself and several others decided that the couches inside looked too comfortable, taking a nap from Kentucky to just before Virginia. More surprising than the news, for we had all hoped for it, was watching American TV again. I was shocked to see skirts above the knee and kept expecting a Bocage (butter) ad to come on. Or maybe Tem Tem (spice packet). Or perhaps Vital (butter). Or possibly Jumbo (spice packet).
It was fantastic to watch the returns come in, seeing Virginia put Obama to 220. The whole place let out a cheer and the congratulations started. It seemed a shame though for McCain, as I believe the speech he gave afterwards was phenomenal. I’m glad it didn’t happen this way, but if he had spoken like that during the rest of the campaign perhaps he might have been elected (and if he hadn’t chosen Palin as a VP, did you know that she thought Africa was a country? I’m in Senegal, on the west coast of continent of Africa, if anyone else out there is confused). Obama’s speech of course was fantastic. I’m sure you all watched it so I won’t bother recapping.
Given the time differences, it was just about 5:45 am when we started walking home. The sky was still dark, and we could see an airplane coming in and realized that would be the same flight we had come in on two months earlier. People peeled off slowly as we walked through Mermoz, and I was the last to arrive home. As I passed the boulangerie I saw men picking up the baguettes to distribute to the smaller kiosk type boulangeries to be sold later that day. There were men coming into the street with prayer beads in hand, heading into the mosque while the prayer call rang out.
I left a piece of paper on the table that said, “Obama a gagné,” and headed to bed.
Since Tuesday, it’s been interesting to see how people around Senegal had reacted to the news. Many people feel that it’s a new era, and chance for Africa. Some believe that immigration quotas will change and it will become easier to come to the USA. Others have said that Obama is not African, and hate the use of the term “African American” and much prefer calling him black. One family friend said to me today that Obama is the leader of the USA and therefore the world, and can’t act in the interests of Africa while still leading the USA.
Most of all it’s been interesting how welcomed I am. It’s such a change from the hate and disapproval that Bush has garnered abroad over the last eight years. Now saying you’re American results in congratulations, rather than a recipe for how things should be changed, or a laundry list of what’s wrong. This shift has been so sudden. Just Monday, I would jut say I was from London or Toronto and leave it at that, rather than debating with everyone I met. It will be interesting to see how perceptions will change, especially during his first two months in office. It’s certainly the dawning of a new era, and it will be interesting to see how it unfurls.
Sorry for such a meandering post, but those were my thoughts on the election.
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