Notes from Abroad

On this day last year, we were in Italy. We'd be in the Pasticceria Sieni in Firenze for our morning cornetti and cappuccini and we'd hear the rising of voices, "Blah-ah, di blah, e blah-i-blah, George Bush.. blah-di-BLAH...," And I'd reflexively duck and cringe. Sorry-- I'm sorry, really, I didn't vote for him...sorry... This year, everyone, I present to you a message from the gondolieri of Venice. And the chorus.

If only the rest of the world could vote for president too. This election has generated perhaps even greater excitement and scrutiny outside f the US than in the US. Here's the latest on how the world sees us from Newsweek. "Obama went into Election Day with a steady lead in U.S. polls, averaging about 50 percent to 44 percent for McCain, but he was headed for a landslide around the world, topping polls in virtually every nation often by strong margins: 70 percent in Germany, 75 percent in China and so on. Somewhere along the road to the White House, Obama became the world's candidate—a reminder that for all the talk of America's decline, for all the visceral hatred of Bush, the rest of the world still looks upon the United States as a land of hope and opportunity. "The Obama adventure is what makes America magical," French State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Rama Yade, a Senegalese immigrant who is the only black member of Nicolas Sarkozy's government, recently told Le Parisien."

Ah, Europe...Remember Obama's trip back in July -- seems like a century ago... I have dreams about seeing him return to Europe, this time as a leader in the G7 conference. Before his European trip Obama talked about the embarrassment of Americans' not being able to speak another language. And on his trip through France ("Where is our Obama?") Paris goes crazy for him -- as Eric puts it, "Hey, he has to save US first dammit!" Obama visited Downing Street in London, and the Brits give their own special twist to his name "Senator BAH-rick oBA-ma."

And a little bonus: hitting the famous 3-pointer while visiting the troops.

I woke up this morning and turned on the TV to hear Obama giving his "We Have a Lot of Work to Do" speech at a rally. How much would I LOVE to have that happen every morning, to turn on the TV or radio, hear the president's voice and not immediately want to duck and cringe?

Yeah, I know. First we have to ELECT him.