The Political Race

I’ve avoided writing about the whole US political situation for several reasons. First of all, I don’t really know a whole lot about exactly what is going on over there. Most of my information comes third hand from volunteers or it is translated from Russian into Kyrgyz and then I attempt to understand it. Second, half the reason I joined the Peace Corps was to avoid this whole election cycle and, from what it sounds like, I made the right decision. Third, I’m sure Peace Corps will use this article against me at some point in the future, regardless of what I actually write.
With Sen. Obama apparently wrapping up the Democratic nomination, I figured now would be a good time to talk about what exactly it is people over here think about the whole process in the United States. To be sure, the Democratic primaries received the lion’s share of the press here. The thing that fascinated most Kyrgyz people I talked to was that either a woman or a black man was going to be President (the whole idea of primaries is a little lost on the people here. Sen. John McCain obviously could keep our remarkable string of 43 straight white old guys alive.). Though it is a bit strange that it is the first thing someone will mention during the discussion, the Kyrgyz people seem extremely open to the idea. One gentleman told me he liked Clinton because Margaret Thatcher brought down Communism and set the Kyrgyz Republic free from the Soviets (a bit revisionist, but interesting).
So, now the stage is set for a McCain-Obama showdown. Most people here have never heard of Sen. McCain, but I think that will change. The Russian news does about ten minutes worth of U.S. news every week, so as the campaign heats up, I’m sure they will be introduced to the man. I am interested to see what kind of light they shine on Sen. McCain. He has been very tough on Russia in the past and the press here is anything but objective.
For those of you interested, through a very unscientific poll, I would estimate that Obama would carry all of PC-Kyrgyzstan’s electoral votes with a District of Colombia-like 90%. I am just happy that I get to participate in a system where my vote doesn’t matter, since my place of residence (Arizona) made up its mind who to vote for roughly four months ago. And yet life goes on.