The world is watching our elections. On this trip I've talked to Balinese, regular Indonesians, Australians, Lebanese, and Malaysians, and without exception they're very interested in the campaign and the upcoming elections. To a man or woman, they all hope Obama will win. More generally, they hope America will repair its reputation as a citizen of the world.
A Malay expressed his deep admiration for America, for it's creativity, its culture, its entertainment. He was pretty emotional about it. The Lebanese woman was surprised and tickled I was so frank about how badly we've represented ourselves to the world. (This is not a good summary of our 20 minute chat. It was lovely and positive.) And the Australians, well, they wished us all the best on Tuesday.
I hope Obama wins. I think this will signal to the rest of the world that America has reacted against (among other things) the damage the present administration has done to its reputation in the world. It's my understanding they'll hope we are returning to the America they knew, and give us the benefit of the doubt for a little while to prove it.
I'll be standing in line on Tuesday. All the best.
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