Greetings to all.
I'm an American citizen living in Canada since 2000.
I, like tens of thousands of others all around the world, was pleased to cast my vote in the Democrats Abroad primary on Super Tuesday. As you may know Obama carried the Dems Abroad vote 3-1, and taking the vote of American expats in Canada by an equally large margin.
Not surprisingly, only fleeting attention has been paid to the primary by the media, most likely because the 22 delegats (worth 1/2 each) are not all that significant in the final tally.
Nevertheless, that vote is far more meaningful than has been recognized.
I'll explain after the jump...
My last memory of the American political landscape came in 2000 as I was leaving a job in South Carolina to take another in Québec, Canada. As my cab drove to the airport, I distinctly remember passing by a large illuminated highway sign reading "Bush/Cheney 2000." I was consumed by a feeling of gloom that was only assuaged by the relief that I would be leaving the country and, perhaps, when I got back in 4 years it would all be over.
At the base of the sign was a tall, gaunt, black man in a pair of worn out overhauls profiting from the lights to gain a few more hours selling his boiled peanuts from a beat-up roadside stall. As my cab passed by the man he stretched out his arm to offer a bag of nuts. Our eyes met and I felt as if I had starred into a deep pit of hopelessness.
In Canada, I watched as the administration turned out to be far worse than any of us could ever have imagined. From up here in the Great White North, I could only watch helplessly as Bush and Cheney and a small cabal of neo-cons used fear to usurp my Constitution and turn my nation into a global pariah.
My neighbors, friends, colleagues, and students all watched with me in horror and disbelief. As I was the only American they knew, every conversation turned to Bush, Guantanamo, Iraq. I noticed sadly that as their interest evolved from amazement to disdain, ridicule and even outright hatred for my country.
I did my best to speak out against the regime in my classes and even on local radio. I personally vowed never to return to America until the restoration of my Constitution and my Bill of Rights. Since then, I've shoveled a lot of snow. I've learned to speak French fluently. Above all, I've waited patiently for a new day.
That new day came when I accidently turned on CNN and they were covering the speech of some guy named "Barack Obama" in Springfield, Illinois. I did not know who this man was (Chicago is a long way from Chicoutami), but after listening for five minutes I literally fell into my chair and tears welled up in my eyes.
This man seemed to channel Abraham Lincoln, and for some reason I was reminded once again of the tall, gaunt man selling boiled peanuts on the roadside in South Carolina. That thought was juxtaposed to the image of this lanky, well-dressed black man with big ears who was explicitly, and boldly, eloquently, and unequivocally repudiating the last 7 shameful years of American history, as he implicitly reminded America that we had fought a Civil War to give him, a black man with a funny name, the right to lead this country.
I immediately ran to my basement logged onto his website, took out my old American Visa card and started a monthly contribution of $50 to the campaign. Shortly, I was using Skype to phonebank for him in Louisiana, Virginia and Wisconsin. I contacted my home district in Ohio and used the internet to begin a local grassroots organization to build a volunteer list all from my basement in Canada.
Oh no. This is not an ordinary election, mes chèrs ami(e)s.
This is a Revolution and its rumblings can be felt from Montréal to Montana, Paris, France to Paris, Texas, from Toledo to Tokyo and everwhere in between.
We are all, even those of us living abroad, fighting with everything we have to get our country back. That's the meaning of the hope that Obama has extended to us all. His hope is a life-raft for those of us drowning in the fetid and festering cesspool of shame and cynicism that has become America.
Those of us abroad want to be proud to be Americans once again.
For my part, I will fight until the very end.
If Barack Obama does not take that oath of office in November, I will take my own oath to my second home--Canada.
And, I will not be alone.
Let us hope that it does not come to that. Let us continue to work together and speak with one voice. Let us end not only the war in Iraq, but the Civil War. Let us turn our ship of state over to a man who can re-make America into a land where all of her citizens can be proud to call her home.