Not Knowing Change When It Comes

My decision to study abroad, or rather to pursue a degree in a country outside the United States, has without a doubt revealed to me directly how the United States of America is perceived by those from other cultures, races, countries and political beliefs. This has proved to be even more true with the upcoming presidential elections.

Though I can substantially admire the interest Europeans do have with political fields outside of their own, I must at the same time admit that I am troubled by how the elections are being perceived by Europeans, and what they, the Europeans, hope is to be “accomplished” after George W. Bush steps down as the Executive Chief.

If one wasn’t American or didn’t even watch the American news or perhaps pick up an American newspaper, they would surely believe that the Presidential election is essentially down to two candidates; Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Watching the local German news and reading the local German newspapers it is quite painfully obvious that there is a stark represented bias towards these two candidates than of the other rather mysterious party.

Who do you think will win the election? Hillary or Obama? is the question most often put to me.

Well, I really don’t know who will win the Democratic primary, but I find the Republican primary to be more interesting, is typically my response, followed by the ever so familiar answer:

The Republican what?

Now, I’m not blaming those I come into contact with in not having an in depth knowledge of our political party system or how the elections actually do function, but I believe that Europeans are expecting one major thing to occur in this election; change. Change being in the form of the other party being elected and the Republican candidate being trounced at the voting booths. This is an unfortunate thing, because not knowing how our political party system does in fact work puts them at a disadvantage of what could be considered a change.

John McCain clinching the Republican nomination is enough change already in itself. Though I am not a registered Republican, despite his age, I can definitely see him being a worthy opponent against Obama or Clinton, and perhaps even pulling off the election despite the shattered reputation of the Republican Party. He has proven to question his own party by attacking and putting pressure on Bush regarding the current strategy in Iraq, as well as to be one of the first (which has proven recently to be quite questionable) to call for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, in view of his handling of the war. With the outright confusion of the party itself in whether or not MCain should actually be the party’s candidate is enough to reveal the inner factions within the party itself and to show that whatever faction Bush belonged to, McCain does not. It doesn’t matter in a sense how the party feels as it really isn’t their decision, but rather the decision of the American people. That is the beauty of American politics.

Additionally Joschka Fischer made an observation in his weekly column for Die Zeit (Here – sadly only in German) that stated even if the Democratic candidates do clinch the win, a lot probably would not change in regards to American Foreign Policy. So far he is proving to be right. It has been reported that both candidates are purposely not explicitly stating any timetables for a U.S. Troop withdrawal from Iraq [Here (something that is at the forefront of the Europeans longing for change)] and the “realistic” attitude of American Foreign Policy will probably remain the same, if what in a somewhat different form, something that Clinton defended herself as being capable of in a speech in October. (Here)

Naturally it’s too early to tell who will ultimately win, and this is just one (of many) early prediction based on a lot of generalizations of the other two main Democratic candidates, but one can without a doubt state that if McCain does get elected, it will be the change the Europeans are wanting and looking for. The sad thing is, they just won’t realize it.