Election Reflections

You can not imagine how proud I feel of our country today. For the first time in my politically active career I got behind a cause I believed in, and so did the United States. It’s been different though, to witness this historic moment from far away. I felt both more connected to and more distanced from the election, and in ways I never would have imagined.

We missed out on a lot of election buildup here in Peru. I haven’t seen a McCain ad since August, I missed Michelle Obama coming to Colorado, and I’ve never seen Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live (the computers here aren’t fast enough to stream it). I think I’ve read less than five New York Times editorials urging people to vote.

On the other hand, I experienced a different kind of election buildup. The first night with my host family my host dad eagerly asked if I was voting for Obama. He asked, with true puzzlement, how the American people had managed to elect Bush in 2004. I felt a constant need to make excuses for my country and to distance myself from it. This is especially difficult in Peru because Peruvians are very proud of where they are from. If a Peruvian is born in Piura, for example, and moves to Lima at age two- he is a Piuran forever. Even sometimes if his parents are Piuran this would apply. Here you can never shake your identity- for better or for worse.

It was fun to share the election with my Peruvian friends too. My language class spent hours explaining the difference between Democrats and Republicans to my language teacher. When I got my absentee ballot, I poured over it with my host brother, who couldn’t believe that there were actually 16 people on the ballot for president. My host family probably became more politically informed than your average American as I gave a daily countdown to and explanation of the election. Yesterday our Peruvian facilitators and trainers were just as excited as we were, and my APCD offered words and hope that the American people come to their senses and make good decisions (basically).

The buildup wasn’t all pro-Obama, however. There was one store in downtown Chaclacayo that posted a hand made sign outside the door that said, “Jhon McCain (not a type-o, that’s how it was spelled) is very, very good. Vote for McCain” in English. Several volunteers talked to them. They couldn’t believe that a white person would vote for a black person, and expressed regret that we didn’t believe the KKK would kill Obama. Yesterday the sign changed to read simply, “McCain, President.” Today is said, “Congratulations to Hussein, the president of America.” I’m never shopping there again.

Yesterday here was tense. The day seemed to go on eternally, and we weren’t getting ANY news. Back in the States I would have probably been volunteering all day, and I would have had the opportunity to read the mood all day. I did check my e-mail in the morning here (I COULDN’T stay away), but it was early, and it only made the contrast with the eerie lack of information later in the day greater. I must say, I was homesick. I kept having flashbacks to 2004- especially to the night before the election and the electricity I felt. Tommy, I missed you most of all, and I was dying to hear how you were doing.

Peru 12 had big plans for election night. We have a restaurant in Chaclacayo that we often frequent, mostly because it is big enough and usually empty enough to hold us all. We made a deal with them for election night: if they stayed open and showed CNN in English, we would bring 48 customers. The deal was done.

Of the 48 Peace Corps aspirantes, I believe all but three voted blue. We had a great time watching the results come in. We watched CNN international, which I imagine only had one difference from the coverage you all watched- our commercials were in Spanish and Portuguese. If I’ve counted correctly, between the 48 of us we are from or went to college in 28 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. We’re pretty geographically diverse. So, we had a good time holding people accountable for their states. If “your” state went blue, expect high fives and hugs all around. If “your” state went red, expect to be pelted with trash (in a loving way). I thought that this was neat because it’s not often that one watches the election with such a geographically diverse crowd. I mean, in pretty much any other situation you at least have in common the state in which you are watching the results- right? This also led to great discussions about the nuances of the elections in many states that I normally would have known very little about throughout the night. I was surprised by how connected I felt to Colorado. It wasn’t called until after the election was called for Obama, and yet I still watched it eagerly. I think I’ve come to idolize Colorado a bit here because it is “my home.” Even most of my American friends here don’t know how diverse my living background actually is. Here, I am Coloradan. Maybe it was because of this that I had such a yearning to watch it turn blue. As it turns out, of the 7 states I’ve called home, 6 went blue. I’ve never especially warmed to Texas…

By 10:45pm (Peru is on East Coast time now) we knew that the election would be called at 11pm. By 10:59pm we were all on our feet and had a countdown (I think the restaurant owner thought we had lost it…) 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… and sure enough, the screen flashed “BARACK OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATED OF AMERICA.” We jumped up and down, we screamed, we cried, we hugged, and hugged, and hugged, and laughed, and cried. Seriously, I wish you all could have seen our jubilation (es palabra? Ya no se. Siempre invento palabras castellanas.). I can safely say that I have never seen a group of people so happy about anything. This made making state finals in marching band look like a somber event. Now, I will grant you that Peace Corps volunteers are by no means a representative population of the US (unfortunately) and that we are probably primed to be more politically active, but I mean EVERYONE was ecstatic. We (okay, I) were so happy we burst out into patriotic songs. When’s the last time you heard me burst into a patriotic song that didn’t involve a Frisbee event or the 4th of July? There is something special about Obama. Maybe he’ll bring the US some magic J. We watched McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s acceptance speech (omg- I get to listen to that man LEAD OUR COUNTRY for at least the NEXT FOUR YEARS!) through a veil of tears. I got a headache from smiling too much. We skipped home. Literally. I walked into my house all smiles- OBAMA GANÓ! I said. My host family was happy.

Today was the first day I’ve spent outside of the United States during my adult life that I felt proud of my country. I know that sounds cliché, but I actually wasn’t even expecting it. It just happened. On our way to the center this morning Peruvians we had never seen before CHEERED us from across the street. Our facilitators embraced us with congratulations. Those of us who hadn’t seen each other the night before ran across the center to jump into each other’s arms. When I came home my host family wanted to know all about Obama. They’d seen his daughters in the newspaper. “They’re blacker than he is!” they said. “Yes,” I said, “but finally, to America, it doesn’t matter.”