Looking at US Elections from Afar

The US presidential election was a political out-of-body experience for me. I sat in my Tetovo, Macedonia flat watching events unfold in another country – my country!

Of course I stayed up all night watching the returns on CNN Europe. Because of the time difference, the election results did not start coming in until after midnight. So, it was not until 5 AM - with me in a caffeine-induced stupor – that I heard the announcement that Obama had reached the 270 electoral votes mark.

It was rather exciting, so I flipped through the channels to see what other stations were doing for coverage. I counted five different stations doing live coverage of the elections in five different languages. I was impressed with how much LIVE coverage was being given to the election from places like Kosovo, Albania, Croatia and Serbia not to mention BBC and local Macedonian stations.

I can’t say that I was surprised by the extent of coverage. In the weeks leading up to the election, local residents were quick to ask my thoughts about the election and to give theirs. Some of their comments had to do the two candidates’ friendship with Greece and what that implied about their sympathy – or lack of it - with Macedonia on the issue of name. Many thought McCain would be more sympathetic to the Macedonian side on the name issue. Other Macedonians were curious about whether America was ready to elect a black president. Regardless of the issue, local residents had a much greater level of awareness and interest in the election than I expected.

As I recall, during the time of my last residency in Eastern Europe (1994), there were no conversations about the US that revealed this level of interest and political awareness. I suspect that cable TV and stations like the BBC and CNN (now in most homes here) can account for some of the interest and more importantly the informed nature of that interest. Also, Macedonia’s application for membership in the EU has made many here more aware of how their future is tied to other countries – in both Europe and America.

About these conversations about America. Yes, they are more informed. But, at the same time they are also much more complicated than they used to be in 1994; going far beyond a simple curiosity about a mysterious place called America. America is no longer a mystery to most Eastern Europeans. And they were not the kind of conversation I had decades ago about an America where streets were thought to be paved in gold. No one here thinks that anymore. Gone also are the days where America was talked about as a place to be revered, the America that saved Europe in THE war, aided poor countries and occupied a high moral ground. The Bush years all but washed away the latter views and replaced them instead with talk about America’s warts and shortcomings: a free press that has all but sold its soul to the party in power, the misadventures in Iraq, the feckless hunt for bin Laden, the “cowboy” who alienated European allies and the American financial excesses now wreaking havoc with the world’s economy and so on.

Yet, amidst this new and more sobering view of America, there remain many here who
speak sadly of the fact that the it is now likely that they may not ever have a chance to visit, let alone emigrate to America. On local TV there are businesses that advertise trying to sell hope to Macedonians - hope that they can get a visa to gain access to America. I can tell you, visas are not for sale.

Why is it significant that many in eastern Europe no longer see America as a possible dream? Because when many live in an economy unable to provide jobs to its talented people (40 percent overall unemployment and by some estimates as high as 60 percent for those under 30 years of age), the absence of America as a dream makes life here just a little less hopeful. Today, the reality is that US immigration policies offer them little hope for realizing the dream as my parents did in the early part of the 20th century.

Life is also a little less optimistic for Macedonians because in a real sense many feel left out, even within Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, for example is now an EU member and as such does not allow free and easy border crossings for non member Macedonians. Albania to the west is in no better economic condition that Macedonia. The same for Kosovo to the North. No reason to go those places. Political tensions remain with Serbia especially after Macedonia’s official state recognition of Kosovo. To the South is Greece with whom Macedonians have an uneasy relationship because of the Macedonian name and because Greece like Bulgaria is in the EU.
Nowadays, the most hopeful thing for many Macedonians is entrance into the European Union. Some unrealistically see EU membership as THE thing that will change life for the better. For their sakes, I hope they are right; but I know better. The move to prosperity will be harder than a simple political accession into the European Union.