As you would imagine, Barack Obama is extremely popular around here for reasons that are completely superficial. Most of my students are certain that he was born in Africa but are less sure about the specific country. Needless to say, they were very excited about the outcome of last week's election. When I went to school on Wednesday, Angolans kept saying "congratulations!" oblivious to the fact that almost half of Americans were not feeling particularly congratulatory that day. At the embassy as well, there was an overall assumption that everyone who walked through those doors was "on our side," meaning that Obama is the second coming and Romney is the devil. In passing, people said things like, "good news, huh?" or "we really dodged a bullet there!" I've never discussed politics with my colleagues, so why do they think we are all on the same team? Maybe we are. Maybe we're not. The point is that the assumption is disturbing and leads me to believe there is little to no real political discourse going on within the State Department. It's Obama's biggest fan club and if you don't want to join, then you better keep quiet or you'll be labeled an outcast, or even worse a Republican. Oh, the horror!
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| Ambassador McMullen |
On Tuesday afternoon, we invited young Angolans to the embassy for an election night party. We organized a mock election in which Obama won 29-1. Considering no one in the room had ever even heard of Romney, it didn't come as a shock. I am pretty sure the 1 vote for Romney came from a young woman who asked me to translate the candidate profile sheet about him. When I told her he was a businessman, she exclaimed, "Oooh I like that!"
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| So who's this Mitt guy? |
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| as transparent as it gets |
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