Obama in the White House / Photo: Whitehouse

A week ago, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Many were shocked.

Mock speeches were drafted in which he declined the prize or accepted it on behalf of others. The town-hall criers cringed in agony, the media salivated. On Meet the Press, Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal wrung his hands at the idea of “subjugating American values to global values.”

We’ve spent the week struggling to make sense of the decision.

There is one group of people who maintained their equilibrium and instantly reached out to welcome Barack Obama into their midst: the most recent Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. If we consider their comments in light of the wider world, we might better understand the choice.

But how to visit the wider world? We need to get out there to see what those ominously evoked global values are. We can throw on a backpack and witness conditions firsthand, or… here is an alternative.

David Elliot Cohen has created What Matters, a book of images and ideas in which the world’s preeminent photojournalists and thinkers depict the “crucial yet curable” issues of our time.

As Omer Bartov writes in his essay on genocide, “These photographs tell a truth we would rather not know. They have the power to take us to places we will never visit, show us sights we hope never to see.”

He challenges every one of us to do something, however small, to make this world a better place.

What Matters provides a framework in which to contemplate the Nobel Committee’s reasons for awarding the prize to Barack Obama and the statements of the past Laureates.

1. Encouraging Co-operation

Kofi Annan (Nobel Prize Laureate 2002) called the decision “…an unexpected but inspired choice. In an increasingly challenging and volatile world, President Obama has given a sense of hope and optimism to millions around the world. He has shown the way forward is through genuine cooperation with other nations.”

Obama’s diplomacy, according to the Nobel Committee, is founded on the concept that those who lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population, which makes Paul Gigot’s melodramatic hand wringing a little out-dated.

This is what Obama had in mind when he addressed the United Nations on September 23:

“In this hall, we come from many places, but we share a common future. No longer do we have the luxury of indulging our differences to the exclusion of the work that we must do together. I have carried this message from London to Ankara; from Port of Spain to Moscow; from Accra to Cairo; and it is what I will speak about today – because the time has come for the world to move in a new direction. We must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and our work must begin now.”

2. Saving Darfur

Jimmy Carter (2002) said: “A bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment to peace and harmony in international relations. It reflects the hope the Obama administration represents across the globe.”

One place increasingly devoid of hope is Darfur, as we can see from the eyes of a child on the streets of Adre with his finger on the trigger (What Matters, The Scorched Earth of Darfur – Marcus Bleasdale, photo).

Genocide, which President Obama called “a stain on our souls,” must be stopped in Sudan. For this to happen it must move up on the agenda of world leaders. Obama pinpointed Darfur in his call for a new era of engagement among nations.

Lawrence Woocher of the U.S. Institute for Peace Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention said this was notable and indicates a real policy priority. Save Darfur Coalition Board member and co-founder of My Sister’s Keeper, Rev. Gloria White-Hammond said the Nobel Prize should reinforce Obama’s leadership role in Sudan and Darfur with the international community.

3. Closing Guantanamo & Ending Torture

Shirin Ebadi, (2003) said:

“I congratulate and welcome President Obama to the large family of Nobel Prize Laureates, and would like to say to him that this is a huge responsibility. I hope he’s able to realize that the word peace is not just the absence of war. It is a collection of circumstances that will eradicate children dying of hunger, a person imprisoned for writing an article, or a person tortured while in detention. It is through understanding all of this that the true meaning of the word peace can be implemented.”

January 22, 2009, the day after the inauguration, President Obama issued three executive orders. He ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay (currently in progress, though the deadline will likely be delayed), and a review of our detention and interrogation policy. He revoked Executive Order 13340 of July 20, 2007 (George W. Bush’s belated attempt to reinterpret those quaint Geneva Conventions). Obama has clearly prohibited the use of torture.

This was a first step in healing our image with the rest of humanity. Here at home we only grasped a fraction of what the photos from Abu Ghraib did to our reputation around the world. They struck fear of Americans into the hearts of many and is one of the high costs of the war on terror outlined in What Matters.

4. Promoting Engagement

Wangari Maathai (2004): “I think the U.S. has been largely judged by the reaction to the act of not signing the Kyoto protocol and also not believing that climage change is a reality. Now look at the U.S., it is engaged, it is supporting the events leading to Copenhagen…”

Maathai knows the difference one person can make and the importance of calling others to action. She planted nine trees in her backyard in Kenya and this grew into the Green Belt Movement – which has planted millions of trees to help restore Africa’s forests.

On the 100th day of his administration, Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, increasing the size of Americorps and “connecting deeds to needs.” This summer our president launched United We Serve. He has engaged Americans in imaginative volunteerism.

5. Abolishing Nuclear Weapons

Mohamed ElBaradei (2005): “I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honor … President Obama has provided outstanding leadership on moving towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”

When ElBaradei accepted his Nobel, he asked people to imagine a world without nuclear weapons. In awarding the prize to Obama, special importance was attached to his vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

The photos in Fallout- The Enduring Tragedy of Chernobyl leave nothing to the imagination. Nineteen years after the evacuation, an empty kindergarten room reminds us of the absolute necessity of nuclear arms reduction and increased safety measures. Other images in What Matters link to the frightening possibility of terrorists using nuclear weapons.

In September, after chairing the meeting in which the new UN Security Council Resolution 1887 was drafted and signed, President Obama said,

“We harbor no illusions about the difficulty of bringing about a world without nuclear weapons. We know there are plenty of cynics, and that there will be setbacks to prove their point. But there will also be days like today that push us forward – days that tell a different story. It is the story of a world that understands that no difference or division is worth destroying all that we have built and all that we love. It is a recognition that can bring people of different nationalities and ethnicities and ideologies together. In my own country, it has brought Democrats and Republican leaders together.”

6. Ending Poverty

Muhammad Yunus, (2006): “The prize has really bet on him because he has a real chance to bring change.” Yunus also stated, “Getting the prize at the beginning is important, because it encourages those forces of peace for a lasting framework.”

Twenty-seven dollars out of his own pocket became the Grameen Bank, which turns Yunus’s vision of eliminating poverty into many realities every day.

What Matters is a comprehensive pictorial of the plight of the world’s poor, and the essays offer a sometimes scathing chronicle of our efforts to help. A sharp awareness of the issues—from AIDS to water supply problems to our own consumer culture—is essential in our leaders.

President Obama demonstrates this understanding:

“Far too many people in far too many places live through the daily crises that challenge our humanity – the despair of an empty stomach; the thirst brought on by dwindling water supplies; the injustice of a child dying from a treatable disease; or a mother losing her life as she gives birth.”

President Obama’s advocacy of the poor is reflected in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He is also one of the strongest advocates for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

7. Tackling Climate Change

Al Gore, (2007) called the decision: “Extremely well deserved and an honor for the country.” When Gore accepted his award for furthering man’s peace with the planet, he said, “We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.”

The Nobel Committee believes this resource has been renewed: “Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting.”

“For a long time—the first fifteen years that we knew about global warming and did nothing—there were no pictures. That was one of the reasons for inaction,” states Bill McKibben in his essay in What Matters, Meltdown – A Global Warming Travelogue.

The photographs throughout the book depicting environmental conditions— glaciers disappearing, China’s extreme pollution, scenes from the Niger River Delta—are meant to cause outrage in us, for that is what leads to action.

In our country, the 2008 election ended an era of denial. President Obama has both said and shown that the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over.

The environmental policies of Obama’s first months in office entailed the dirty job of digging out of the messy pile of Bush’s policies, while building a whole new mountain of better investments, tougher standards and guidelines for a cleaner, more sustainable future.

8. Building Real Peace In The Middle East

Maarti Ahtisaari, (2008): “We do not yet have a peace in the Middle East…this time it was very clear that they wanted to encourage Obama to move on these issues. This is a clear encouragement to do something on this issue. I wish him good luck.”

Ahtisaari is a mediator who has dedicated his career to solving international conflicts. When he won his Nobel last year, he expressed frustration that so many conflicts had become frozen. Clearly, Iraq and Afghanistan topped the list.

In the wider world, dialogue and negotiations are greatly preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. We forget that millions of people around the globe took to the streets (and still do) in protest against both Afghanistan and Iraq.

It seems impossible to get an accurate count—in lives, pain, displacement, not to mention dollars—of the cost of these wars. Bitter Fruit – Behind the Scenes, America Buries Its Iraq War Dead asserts that the Iraq war, because of the scarcity of images available, has been largely invisible.

The essay highlights America’s complacency and the deep sacrifices of military families, and suggests, “We owe it to ourselves to remember what war is, so that we do not go lightly into its great darkness.”

The timing of this Nobel has put the U.S. in the scorching heat of the world’s spotlight in regards to Afghanistan in particular. Responsibly ending the war in Iraq remains a top priority.

The president revealed his always growing understanding and constantly widening perspective when he said in March, “Going forward, we will not blindly stay the course.” The approach Obama is taking is all-encompassing and is another one of the reasons he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Conclusion

These Laureates seem to recognize Barack Obama as a transformative figure for peace.

In the view of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “Only rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”

The worldwide need for hope is shown in every image in What Matters. Perhaps this is what David Elliot Cohen had in mind when I asked him about Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize and he responded, “Both the Nobel Committee and I, probably for the first time in both cases, are enjoying the rich pleasures of blind faith.”

Our president knows that never before has anyone been made a Laureate so early into their term of office. He knows the magnitude of his challenges is yet to be met by the measure of his actions.

But he knows something else, something that makes me also enjoy the rich pleasures of faith in him – he knows that peace matters.

What do you think of the Nobel’s decision to award Barack Obama? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo by Swami Stream

During the last eight years, it is doubtful whether our leadership has fostered peace, both within our nation and in the wider world.

We can now elect a President of the United States who will be a transformational figure for peace. But what is peace? Is it just a logo on retro tie dyed t-shirts? A pie in the sky dream? Is peace on earth possible?

The Oxford Dictionary of Contemporary World History describes the Nobel Peace Prize as “the world’s most prestigious prize.”

Each year controversies swirl around the recipients. Attempts are made to discredit the prize and Laureates, but they remain respected and revered throughout the world.

During the Bush administration’s reign, eight people have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

A look at them offers us a chance to consider which candidates would further the cause of peace as the next President and Vice President of the United States: Barack Obama and Joe Biden, or John McCain and Sarah Palin.

2001 – Working Together – The United Nations and Kofi Annan (Ghana)

Kofi Annan

The prize was awarded to the United Nations and its Secretary-General for their work for a more peaceful and better organized world.

Annan was hailed for discouraging states from using the UN as a tool for their own ends, something the Bush Administration has been accused of.

He took an active roll as a protector of human rights, addressed the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and urged that the UN play a leading part in the fight against international terrorism.

Annan’s report on the UN’s role in the 21st century formed the basis for the UN’s Millennium Declaration, which calls for an end to poverty, better education, reducing HIV/AIDS, protecting the environment, and preventing war.

In his Nobel Lecture given two months after the war began in Afghanistan, Kofi Annan made the bold move of beginning his speech by describing a mother caring for a newborn. He said that the real borders in this world are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, rich and poor.

“The obstacles to democracy have little to do with culture or religion, and much more to do with the desire of those in power to maintain their position at any cost.”

2002 – The Tolerant Diplomat – Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

As president, Jimmy Carter was a diplomat in every sense of the word. His mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and he placed new emphasis on the place of human rights in international politics during the Cold War.

Through the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter undertook conflict resolution on several continents, showed an outstanding commitment to human rights, and served as an observer at countless elections all over the world.

In his Nobel lecture, Jimmy Carter pointed out that great American power has been used with restraint and great benefit in the past. He warned against powerful countries adopting a policy of preventative war. Carter identified the most serious problem the world faced as the growing chasm between the rich and poor.

“War is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”

2003 – Hope Over Fear- Shirin Ebadi (Iran)

Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi, lawyer, judge, lecturer, author and activist was recognized for her efforts for democracy and human rights, especially those of women and children. She stood up as a sound professional, who never heeded threats to her own safety.

Shirin Ebadi was the first woman judge in Iran. After the 1979 Revolution, she was demoted to clerk in the very court where she had been a judge. She protested and was elevated to the status of “expert”. She then quit her law practice and wrote books and articles demanding rights for women and children in Iran.

In 1992, Ebadi resumed her law practice and took up politically sensitive cases. She founded the Association for the Support of Children’s Rights and The Human Rights Defense Center. She taught human rights courses at university, and drafted the text of a law against the physical abuse of children that passed the Iranian Parliament in 2002.

Ebadi was described by the Nobel Committee as both guide and bridge-builder, bringing people together across cultures, races and religions. Shirin Ebadi’s view was that there need be no fundamental conflict between Islam and Christianity. She was honored for being an unshakable optimist who showed great courage.

In her Noble Lecture, Shirin stated that rulers:

“…will realize that the time for governing through fear is drawing to a close the world over.”

2004 – Planting Seeds of Peace – Wangari Maathai (Kenya)

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace in Kenya and in Africa.

The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Wangari Maathai was recognized for promoting ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development.

Deforestation and erosion were destroying areas where livestock grazed in Kenya and causing a shortage of wood needed for cooking. On June 5, World Environment Day, Wangari planted nine trees in her backyard and founded the Green Belt Movement. For nearly 30 years she mobilized poor women to plant 30 million trees, with the aim to restore Africa’s forests.

Wangari Maathai was repeatedly sent to prison. She was attacked with tear gas and clubbed. She persisted in her approach, which the Nobel committee described as combining science, commitment, active politics and faith in God.

“Entire communities also come to understand that while it is necessary to hold their governments accountable, it is equally important that in their own relationships with each other, they exemplify the leadership values they wish to see in their own leaders, namely justice, integrity and trust.”

2005 – Bringing Back the Word Imagine – The IAEA and Mohamed ElBaradei (Egypt)

Mohamed ElBaradei / Photo Lukas Beck for The NY Times

The prize was awarded to the IAEA and Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

The IAEA was started in 1957 and was the vision of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1953 speech at the United Nations, “Atoms for Peace“.

The IAEA insisted before the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 that there were no WMD, and they were correct. Recently, the Bush administration has disagreed with the IAEA on this same issue with regard to Iran, and actually attempted to oust El Baradei.

El Baradei was praised for standing out as an unafraid advocate of non-proliferation, and directing nuclear energy to uses in electricity production, healthcare (especially cancer treatment), agriculture, the environment and industry.

In his speech Mohamed ElBaradei pointed out that history has taught that force doesn’t heal wounds, but opens new ones. He offered his vision of a more peaceful world:

“Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building the machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver.

Imagine a world where we would settle our difference through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children. Imagine that such a world is within our grasp.”

2006 – Spreading the Wealth – Muhammmad Yunus (Bangladesh) and the Grameen Bank

Muhammmad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were honored with the Peace Prize for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

In 1976, Muhammad Yunus took twenty seven dollars out of his own pocket and loaned it to 42 destitute basketweavers in a little village in Bangladesh. Out of this grew the Grameen Bank; self-financing, profitable, and spreading the wealth in thousands of villages in Bangladesh.

Yunus’s vision was to eliminate poverty in the world. This banker to the poor operated on the principal that every single person on earth has the potential and the right to live a decent life.

Both Nobel Committee and Laureate again cited poverty as the greatest challenge facing the world. The majority of people on earth are poor: half the world’s people live on less than two dollars a day, and one billion live on less than one dollar a day.

“We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns.”

2007 – Making Peace With the Planet – The IPCC and Al Gore

Al Gore

The IPCC and Al Gore were honored for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for action.

The IPCC, the UN’s climate panel, is a global project that involves over 130 countries, 450 authors and 800 contributors, and 2,500 scientific experts.

The Nobel Committee, who called the US and China the great polluters, felt that global warming was a threat to the security and existence of mankind on earth. The committee raised its voice with a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu charging that ignoring climate change was a sin.

The Committee linked desertification in Africa with regional conflict, highlighting the heavy burden climate change laid on vulnerable countries, and citing a group of American military officers who said global warming was a “threat multiplier for instability in volatile regions”.

Al Gore was the individual who had done the most to bring global warming to the world’s attention with his 1992 book Earth in the Balance, which laid out a global Marshall plan to save the biosphere, and An Inconvenient Truth.

In his lecture, Al Gore said it was time to make peace with the planet.

“We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.”

2008 – Solving International Conflicts – Martti Ahtisaari (Finland)

Martti Ahtisaari

The Nobel Committee announced the 2008 recipient of the Peace Prize as Martti Ahtisaari for his important efforts to solve international conflicts.

As a mediator, Ahtisaari sought solutions in Namibia, Indonesia, and Kosovo. He also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa.

More recently Ahtisaari, through his organization the Crisis Management Initiative, has tried to help find a peaceful conclusion to the problems in Iraq.

In an interview Ahtisaari said:

“… every conflict can be solved. I think it’s a disgrace for the international community that we have allowed so many conflicts to become frozen, and we are not making a serious effort to solve them.”

Be the Change on November 4

Each of these Nobel Laureates continues to act to bring about peace in our world today. Their lives are a testimony to the power of real leadership in eradicating poverty, resolving conflict, standing for human rights and working together to make a safer world.

As former Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week on Meet the Press, “When you help the poorest, they move away from terrorism.”

These voices from around the world remind us that peace is not an antiquated notion, but a real possibility that requires certain qualities in our leaders.

On November 4th, we can elect a president and vice president who will not govern through fear or widen the chasm between rich and poor; who will use restraint and respect diversity; who recognize the rights of all humans and will dialogue with integrity with other world leaders.

In the words of Nobel’s Missing Laureate, Mahatma Gandhi, “We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

When we fill in the oval next to our choice for President and Vice President of the United States, we can act boldly and decisively to elect leaders who will promote peace.

Imagine that change.

On the road / Photo IrishFireside

In Ireland, the roads are lined with ivy-covered stone fences and sprinkled with livestock.

We’d rented a small car and my husband zoomed up and down hills with brash confidence, our teen-aged sons scrunched up and snoring in the backseat.

It was an unlikely place for thoughts of patriotism: a twisting, turning, narrow road under a green canopy in the hills of Ireland.

Patriotism is a slippery word in the United States. Dissent is linked to a lack of it, one’s choice of presidential candidate has become a litmus test for it, and the word itself is combustible.

Edward R. Murrow warned against this situation: “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”

During my travels, fielding questions about U.S. actions in the world had left me empty of a response. A fellow from New Zealand wondered why my country didn’t provide healthcare for all its citizens. A Parisian in her small, humble apartment asked why people in the U.S. feel they are what they own.

Why are Americans so fearful? Why behave inconsistent in the U.N.? Why refuse the Kyoto accords? Why break the Geneva Conventions? And…Iraq?

Failing Our Ideals

The United States is a force for peace, I answered in 2002. We care for our people and land in a way that would impress any New Zealander , I feebly explained. As time went on, my responses wavered; they did not correspond with reality.

We are confident but do not bully, I insisted weakly. Generosity exceeds greed, hope outweighs fear, compassion is more precious than consumption, and equality trumps injustice, I whispered.

I am not naïve enough to think America has always lived up to these ideals, but until the last few years, I thought we aimed for them.

The future ahead / Photo Jordi C

By the time I left for Ireland, the simplistic, shark-like twisting and turning of facts that characterizes political advertising was picking up speed, a sign of things to come.

As red fuschias, indigo hydrangeas, and green of all textures flashed by the open window close enough to touch, I turned the dial on the radio.

Lilting Irish voices cheerfully discussed sport, weather, and world affairs. The broadcast was full of news, analysis, intelligent questions and answers; the Irish version of NPR. I was impressed with the range and thoughtful treatment of issues.

Soon these lyrical voices began discussing Bair-ack Obama as if he were a hero in an Irish ballad. He, like JFK, had a pair-fect “combination of confidence and desirability.” “What will Obama do, then, when he becomes president?”

They believe he would restore America, in word and deed.

A Shared History

Gene Kerrigan of the Irish Independent newspaper: “What (Obama’s) victory could do is neutralize the toxic extremism that currently prevails. As president, John McCain will find new extremes and new wars. Obama has other priorities.”

As our car stalled for a cow crossing, I pondered the friendship between Ireland and the United States. Our histories are woven together as tightly as wool in an Irish sweater.

There are between 27 and 34 million citizens in the U.S. of Irish ancestry. Irish soldiers accounted for nearly half of Washington’s Continental army. We’ve traditionally helped Ireland in their struggle against British occupation.

I wondered what the Irish thought of our presence in Iraq: the $474 million U.S. embassy in Baghdad; the one in five people displaced by violence; the Iraqi death toll (estimates range from 100,000 to 1 million).

This “presence” must remind the Irish of you-bloody-well-know who. The Irish must be wondering, I thought, if we are friend or bully.

As the Irish American Writers and Artists Association put it, Barack Obama presents “the surest way to stop the destructive drift in our nation’s foreign and domestic policies, and return dignity, tolerance, compassion and intelligence to the White House.”

Ireland on Obama

My husband John was determined to “do” the entire West Coast of Ireland, so as we zipped around corners and zoomed past farmhouses, I had plenty of time to be mesmerized by the voices on the radio. Ahr-land was con-sairned over the price of petrol.

The ‘Happiness Guy’ (Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss) was interviewed: Ireland was high on the list of happiest countries.

Should there be a holiday to commemorate the famine? Would Bair-ack Obama get elected? The broadcast consistently bounced back to Barack.

On the day we sailed around the paved waves of the Ring of Kerry, I gazed out at the dancing, sparkling blue Atlantic Ocean. I heard a dim voice on the radio and turned it up.

“I know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived – at great cost and great sacrifice – to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world.

Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom – indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares.

What has always united us – what has always driven our people, what drew my father to America’s shores – is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people; that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.”

It was Barack Obama speaking in Berlin, describing America to the world.

I felt my patriotism surge.

The engine revved, carrying the little car over the crest of a hill and straight towards the wide Atlantic Ocean, where across the shining sea was my country.

Community Connection!

Thinking of a trip to Ireland? Check out Ireland On A Budget over at MatadorTrips.com. And find out what 50 other bloggers from around the world think of the US election.

The Matador Team is proud to support Barack Obama. Please take a moment to read our official endorsement of Obama for President.

Goodbye to Bush / Photo lewishhamdreamer

You are sitting in a European sidewalk café. You overhear the word, Bush.

What’s next? Furrowed brows and incredulous questions? Whether or not you think our president deserves this disrespect, you’ve likely encountered it.

Between now and the election, fellow European travelers, we can cram hope in our suitcases right next to optimism.

I just returned from Europe, barely missing the president’s farewell tour. Before departing, President Bush stood on the White House lawn and declared, “We’ve got strong relations in Europe and this trip will help solidify those relations.”

FOX News reports, “Europeans feel US foreign policy will be better once he’s gone, and they’re already looking past him to his successor.”

Before reflecting on my own experience and what Europeans have to say about the tour, I think back to the highlights of yesteryear.

A Brief History Of Bush Protest

London, 2004: Bush was in the role of enemy. I saw furious protestors gathered outside the British Parliament, waving anti-Bush signs. Millions of people all over Europe had done the same. Throughout England and Scotland I was asked suspiciously, “Will Bush get re-elected?”

Paris, 2005: Everyone from the hotel concierge to the sophisticated executive courteously demanded (as only the French can), “How could your country re-elect Bush?”

Wendy Hendrickson, a teacher and entrepreneur living in Vienna who voted for Bush still hears the same question today. “There has always been disbelief that we could have elected him twice.”

Italy, 2006: Denise and Cid Busby of Edmonds, Washington lived in Naples and traveled extensively around Europe. “We had many instances when people in all different countries of Europe immediately started in on George Bush: ‘He is a very bad man. He is not very smart. Why would you elect him?” ‘We just started saying we were from Canada. We felt so sad.”

Bordeaux, 2007: I could see the taxi driver’s face in the rearview mirror. The radio announcer was interviewing French people about Le Président Des Etats-Unis, and guerre (war). The driver’s eyes scanned mine for comprehension; I gazed out at the vineyards and chateaux.

“Boosh was dangereux and un tartufe (hypocrite). Eyes sparkled, the moustache twitched, and the driver chuckled discretely. The war was ridicule, inutile (unnecessary); about pétrole and la avidité (greed).”

Belly laughs boomed from the front seat. I leaned forward and asked the man in French if he liked the US President. He gave a horrified start and nearly wept with embarrassment, exuding sympathy for me.

Today – The European Reaction

Bush with Chancellor Merkel / AP photo

Back to 2008: The Boston Globe said last week, “President Bush’s motorcade will speed through European capitals, but for many Europeans, the Bush presidency already is in their rearview mirrors. ”

BBC News says, “Judging from the level of public antipathy towards Bush in Europe, perhaps ‘Good Riddance’ would be the more accurate message.”

Slovenia’s news source Delo says: “After eight years of George W. Bush, who embodied all the negative stereotypes and prejudices regarding the US, everyone wants a new American president.” The Slovene word for goodbye is Nasvidenje.

In Germany, our commander-in-chief threw his arm around the shoulder of Chancellor Angela Merkel, causing Europeans to recall July 18, 2006. Bush told Germans, “I could have used better rhetoric.” Will Germans ever again pine for war rhetoric? Nein.

They half-heartedly wished the president Auf Wiedersehen. Der Tagesspiegel newspaper: “Bush is not even popular in the role of the enemy anymore.”

“Monsieur Boosh should go”

I Googled French news for their take on the president’s visit, and déjà vu! Radio France’s announcer once again interviewed people. “A man who takes himself to be a god.” “Monsieur Boosh should go.”

Aerospace executive John Byrne was in Italy last week when Italians bid Bush Arrivederci. He said, “They want Bush out.” Hendrickson says Austrians echo this sentiment. “I haven’t met an Austrian yet who doesn’t think getting Bush out of office will do the United States a world of good. They seem concerned about our loss of stature in the eyes of the world.”

“The attention is now on Obama and McCain,” says Antonio Missiroli, research director of the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

I found this to be true on my recent trip to Europe. After a terse comment on Bush’s sanity, Anne, a Parisian historian smiled. A window was flung open and a gust of fresh air blew in: “You will have a new president soon, yes?”

In Vienna my tour guide informed me, “We in the EU have to work out our differences. We don’t just bomb people”. Then-whoosh-”Maybe your new president will try diplomacy.”

Looking To The Future

Steven Kull, director of The Program on International Policy Attitudes comments, “Views of the US are being mitigated by hope that a new administration will move away from the foreign policies that have been so unpopular around the world.”

The Slovenian news indicates that this open window hinges on prospects for diplomacy: “If a candidate who wants to adhere to Bush’s course wins, the transatlantic rift will only grow deeper.”

Which candidate will have a longer shelf-life in Europe? I searched both John McCain and Barack Obama’s websites under Issues for their positions on foreign policy, looking for specific references to diplomacy. I urge you to do the same.

This summer, I’ll travel to England after the Brits cry, Cheerio. We’ll have tea and chat about hope. Then it’s off to Ireland, who wished the Bush Slán leat. I’ll lift a Guinness with the Irish and toast to diplomacy.

What do you think of Europe’s reaction to Bush’s farewell? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Mikael Damkier

After today, I can’t wait to sprint away from American culture.

I have decided to visit Europe in two weeks; I consider it a Culture Dash.

A Culture Dash is a rapid dash away from the culture of a country. This can be accomplished by traveling far away from the familiar.

You can go to Paris for a Dash, or you can go meet the new neighbors, or you can get away from it all inside your own brain.

This last type of purely mental Dash is a bit tricky, as it requires you to ignore important cultural icons such as Matt Lauer, Oprah, and the Bush family.

Why the urge to dash?

Recently, I spent 10 minutes watching The Today Show, and quickly found myself gasping for another culture like a fish out of water. In the span of ten minutes, the one person who spoke of the soul reaching its true potential and other issues I deem important was… Madonna.

She alone spoke sense.

The rest of the time, I was invited to play one of the seven video games on Today.com; note that more than 6 in 10 American women are calorie prisoners and secret eaters; wonder if text messaging is really the best way for families to stay in touch; and bid Matt farewell on his trip to discover other cultures while keeping up our manic schedule.

I was enticed to experience Chili’s Bottomless Express Lunch, including Big Mouth Bites and Kickin’ Chicken, with unlimited refills!

Leave It All Behind

After my Culture Dash, I will sit at a sidewalk café under a bright awning, amid red geraniums. I shall sip a Bordeaux and nibble at soft cheese and fresh baked bread.

I will not need to Create My Own Combo. Bye bye American fries, Bonjour pâtisseries of Paris.

I have many options this day in America. I could carry with me Neo-to-go, to protect my kids from evil germs-every cut, every time, everywhere!

After my Culture Dash to Paris, I can view motherhood from the perspective of the French, who regard “the insane sort of perfectionistic and hyper-controlling behaviors” that American mothers engage in today as Perfect Madness.

Today I could practice the codes used in texting, so I could be a hip parent. God forbid I assume LOL means “lots of love”.

I have a sneaking suspicion my kids would much prefer to have me in the dark about their codes, no matter how hip I wannna be. GTG on a Culturedash.

Right this very moment I can whiten my teeth “anywhere I want” with Listerine White Strips, puckering up my lips at the gooey texture of slimy bleach clinging to my teeth, gums, and even lips.

Sitting right here at my computer I could rapidly develop teeth a person can see right through when I smile in a patch of sunlight.

Gotta Keep Moving

Photo by Alanishere

I want to Dash from the American obsession with perfection. I can’t wait to stride down the Champs-Elysées feeling irresistibly beautiful despite my varicose veins, wrinkly neck (which I feel bad about thanks to Nora Ephron), not to mention my dull teeth.

I live in Seattle. In my neck of the woods, there are scattered showers with low elevation snow expected in the next few days. The temperature is in the 60s right now on the Champ de Mars, the grassy, cushiony paradise I’ll sit on (post-Dash) while gazing at the intricate Eiffel Tower. Beam me there, Scotty.

I could contemplate Oprah offering the House of the Future, with features that have been in European homes for decades, such as toilets that take forever to flush, causing Americans to impatiently tap their foot. Merde!

Air France, take me away. In less than a month I’ll be at the Louvre losing myself in contemplation of Michelangelo’s perfectly carved marble male sinews and muscles (and rounded buttocks).

Another way I could spend today in the US of A would be dissecting the Clinton-Obama tussle . Hillary’s been looking refreshed after grueling weeks on the campaign trail, seemingly recovered from running the late night talk show gauntlet.

On the other hand, Barack appears visibly relieved that his pastor has finally catered to the hoards of hyper-analytical American voters by clarifying that he’s a pastor and Obama is a politician.

A Breath Of Fresh Air

It’s enough to make me admire Nicolas Sarkozy, who refreshingly refuses to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing unless China opens a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

I wish to Dash this minute.

It’s April in America, and who can resist chuckling at the Today Show’s celebration of Earth Day. Special guests are the wife and daughters of the president who declared,“We need an energy bill that encourages consumption”.

When I am in Paris, maybe I will catch a glimpse of Sarkozy’s new wife, Carla Bruni who once dated Mick, a claim to cool our own First Lady can only feverishly fantasize about (compare the finesse of Bush’s softshoe routine on the White House steps with the sexy Jagger-esque strut).

Today’s examples of American culture are all buzzing around my head like a frenzied tangle of angry wasps: calorie prisoners, Big Mouth Bites, LOL, slithery Listerine strips, The House of the Future, Hillarack ‘08. I want to flee-to Culturedash straight to Paree.

Will you join me? Share your thoughts in the comments!