Guardian UK: Americans living abroad are no longer ashamed of their nationality

[marmar]

The only American in the village
All things are indeed possible. Americans living abroad are no longer ashamed of their nationality

Pete Tanton
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 05 2008 15.40 GMT


"America is a place where all things are possible," President-elect Barack Obama told his supporters last night in Chicago, and as the first black American to be elected to the White House, he has shown this in grand style.

We Americans, however, already know anything can happen; we not only let George Bush into the White House we let him stay there, a man who few people living outside the US took to be a serious presidential candidate back in 2000. Oh, how we laughed when he couldn't name the president of Chechnya, when he referred to the Greeks as Grecians. Nobody's laughing now, and Sarah Palin's similar failure to spot the difference between the Canadian prime minister and a popular singer is a cold warning for the next election.

As an American who has lived in Britain for the past 15 years and has cast an absentee ballot in three elections, each time wondering if it would actually be counted, Obama's arrival comes as a great relief. I no longer feel like an exile, I'm comfortable being identified as the only American in the village. We got it right for once; we've shown that we're not a complete bunch of idiots, and for the first time in eight years I'm using the collective personal pronoun 'we' in reference to the country of my birth.

Although I have permanent British residency and pay my taxes like everyone else, I have no vote here, no say in how my local authority spends my contribution, no voice in how my son is educated. My right to vote is very important to me, and after Bush's re-election I began considering becoming a British citizen simply so I could have a say, however small, in matters that effect me. People have joked however that my vote is worth more as an American than it would be as a British citizen, and today I feel it. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/05/uselections2008

[Oregone]

1. Oh, overnight it changed for everyone?

Look, yes, Ill be less embarrassed to tell people where I am from in the coming weeks. Im sure itll spark conversation. But it is still and always be a tough pill to swallow.

[BanTheGOP]

2. NOW does everyone see...

...that the republican party and its economic and social crimes are unique ONLY to the United States?

To paraphrase....IT'S THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, STUPID!

Ban it...ASAP!

[Oregone]

3. Its more complicated than that...

Its the people who continually vote Republican. Its the corruption. Its the constant Americanocentrism. The consumerism. The international arrogance. A lot comes from Republican type people, but its deep rooted into the inner-psyche of the people.