On pride in my people and international congratulations

In a way, today I woke up a new person.  I think our country woke up a new country, too. 

Last night, here in Madrid, the Republican party celebrated the election at Hard Rock Cafe.  Their turnout was sad, especially after you saw footage of the Democratic turnout at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, where droves of Americans living here celebrated not only the election, but Obama’s win.  News media here have been covering the U.S. election more than their own news (not that that’s necessarily a good thing…), and last night the Daily Show-types were donning hats and buttons of the American flags, with balloons and confetti adorning their sets.  Americans paraded through the streets in the wee hours of the morning, cheering and waving American flags (it’s been a lonnnnggg time since people have felt comfortable doing THAT in Europe).  Not that we participated in any of this.  Real coverage of the results, given the time difference, didn’t even start until 11 or midnight, and I’m just kind of a wimp.  We got as much info as we could, went to bed, and turn on the TV at 8 this morning…

The TV lit up and we were greeted with footage of Obama’s acceptance speech.  I was surprised to feel my eyes well up and to feel my throat get choked up when I saw the thousands of people cheering and crying for Obama.  Shortly thereafter, I had to leave for school.  While, as I just wrote yesterday, I don’t really care anymore if people can tell I’m foreign/American, that doesn’t mean that I try to stick out or that I prefer to be outed as opposed to being able to pass as Spanish or European.  But today, I looked down at my outfit of CK jeans and my North Face fleece, momentarily flinched at how American I looked, and then remembered what day it was.  I actually was happy, and hoped that people pegged me as an American.  I’ve never been a super-patriot.  I love my country, but that’s usually as far as it goes.  Patriotism in America has a tendency to pick up little earmarks (in the spirit of politics!) along its path so that it comes with nationalism, unwarranted feelings of superiority, and either isolationism or obnoxious mettling.  I’ve certainly never wanted to parade around the streets of Europe as an American, and I’ve rarely been proud of the voting records of my fellow Americans as a whole.  In fact, in 2001 (pre-9/11) in France for a skating competition in which we were representing the U.S., we were specifically told never to wear our U.S.A. uniforms outside the ice rink.

But as an American abroad where I’m missing out on the American experience of Obama’s election but experiencing Europe’s reaction, let me tell you that our esteem in the world has just shot up a gazillion points.  I have literally, literally been CONGRATULATED all day long.  Congratulated.  For a presidential election?  Yep.  So many Europeans and citizens of the rest of the world who don’t have intimate knowledge of the U.S. were so baffled after G.W. was nominated in 2004 (along with about 50% of voting Americans), and I can’t describe to you the excitement here.  Obviously not every Spaniard cares about our politics or our elections, particularly since Spain’s economy is also in the dump and unemployment and mortgage crises are skyrocketing just like back home, but the excitement is palpable.  The cafeteria during recess with my colleagues was buzzing.  All day, when I hear snippets of people’s conversations, in a variety of languanges (one of the perks of living in a major metropolitan area, particularly in Europe), I keep hearing the name “Obama” pop out of people’s mouths.  Even my little third graders talk about Obama.

So, I think I woke up a different person.  In one night, the veil of shame that a lot of us Americans abroad wear has been lifted.  Anti-American sentiment certainly doesn’t disappear overnight, but I no longer feel the urge to tell strangers that I’m from Canada, lest my cab driver refuse to take me home or the old man on the street go into a rant about how Americans at the embassy are taking up the whole sidewalk (that last one actually happened).  And I think the U.S. woke up a different country, too.  I’m sure I’m only one of 8 billion blogs saying this same thing right now, but for the first time in my life, I feel really proud to be American.