Although I have moved to Beer Sheva, I went up to Tel Aviv to watch election results with two American friends, and it was one of the first times since moving to Israel that I felt proud to be an American and aware that there are certain events that you must share with people who come from the same country as you.
The first polls closed at 2 AM Israeli time, and the only American news station we could get was FOX News. We anxiously watched as McCain at first seemed to be in the lead, with eight electoral college votes to Obama's three, and as Florida, Ohio, Missouri and others remained undecided. The three of us dozed off, waking up periodically, as Obama took Pennsylvania, Colorado...and broke through 300 electoral college votes. At 6 we drowsily woke up to Obama's acceptance speech.
It was so exciting to watch this happen at home, in Grant Park where I went while studying at Northwestern, and to see the crowd flowing between Chicago's skyscrapers as though it were an anti-Communist rally in Eastern Europe. Sky News showed Kenyans dancing in the streets, the Fox broadcasters seemed sad, and the three of us kept saying how proud we were of our country, and how excited we were about the Obama family dog.
In the morning I wore a grey Obama t-shirt around Tel Aviv. It felt like the day after you finally get together with someone you have been hoping to be with for months and you want the whole world to know. Every few minutes I would remind myself that Obama was the president-elect, and smile, and stand up on my bike so the t-shirt would be more easily visible.
It's strange, but I really cannot remember feeling this proud of neither America nor Israel, ever. Is this how it was to be an American in the 1940s, when we helped sink Germany and Japan, or in Israel when the Six-Day War was won? So unusual and pleasant to feel that my country makes me feel good about myself, privileged to be a part of it and excited to see what happens next.
...
Today, as I walked around Beer Sheva with a friend, we wandered into the tourist office (which was empty) for the city (which is nearly empty) and chatted with the two middle-aged women who worked there. They said they like Obama, especially because he has a doctoral degree and is an intellectual. Then they added that maybe because Obama is only 47, it will make people in Beer Sheva feel ok about voting for the youngest mayoral candidate for the city, which goes to the polls this Wednesday. Then they accidentally called Obama Mubarak.
2 comments:
Actaully, his name Barack is related to Mubarack, and also means "blessed". So in a way he is Mubarack.
That's true...but is he Mubarak in the way of being confused with an Egyptian head of state?
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