International Reaction

I'm glad that the election is over and done with, and personally, I'm pleased with the result. I'm especially happy looking at the map and seeing that there were a bunch of "red states" that voted for Obama. For the record, I voted in New Hampshire, which pretty much saw a Democrat sweep and ousted Sununu. Unfortunately, I did not get enough write in votes to become the new Sheriff in my county, but there's always the next election.

I'm still a bit weirded out by the fact that CNN got to declare the winner before all the votes were counted, but that's besides the point.

The point is that I will act as a very lazy foreign correspondent, and report on the reaction in my immediate surroundings: the editorial office of a luxury goods magazine. The general mood is ignorance.

Says one co-worker, "Yay! The one you liked won. Did he win by a lot?"
Me: "Yeah, it looks like it."
Her: "Good." She then goes back to work.

Then, a conversation between two people who seem to have forgotten that they work with a real live American:
"Oh, it looks like Obama won the election."
"I don't like Black people."
"Then who did you want to win?"
"I just don't like black people."
"Well you know that Obama's only half black, and he's much better than his opponent [paraphrase]."
"Ungh."

So there you have it. China's opinion on America's politics is a mix of apathy, ignorance, racism, and crazy liberals with valid opinions. Sounds a lot like home.