Obamu-ndo

I had an interesting experience this past Friday. The Brussels branch of Democrats abroad was showing Obama's speech in an Irish pub by the European Commission. I decided that I would rather watch his acceptance speech on a nice big screen drinking with friendly people who were also interested in politics than alone on my bed on my tiny computer screen on YouTube.

I therefore dragged my Nigerian friend Okey with me to the pub and there we met a plethora of people anxious to get Obama voted into office, whether they had a vote or not.

I always found it interesting that when people travel to foreign countries, they flock to people like them; Americans generally hang out with Americans, Brits or Canadians etc. I was therefore surprised to see that of the 100 odd people that showed up to see Obama speak, about 45 of them were not American citizens. While I understand that this was social event and like me, many Americans could drag their non-American friends along with them, that is understandable. However, it was not like that, many of the foreigners (mainly Germans, Swiss, French and Belgian) were very ACTIVE in the Democrats abroad organization. While they are not allowed to donate any money, they are active volunteers getting Americans abroad to register to vote, because many are not.

Isn't that interesting, that foreigners are persuading Americans to sign up to vote for THIER President. It's kind of embarrassing even. Why aren't Americans who are living abroad already registered to vote, and why do they need to be pushed to register?

I suppose I understand people's frustration in the American public, after 8 years of G. Bush, it seems as though Americans need to be slapped in the right direction (that direction being...left), especially on foreign policy. But is it really appropriate for foreigners to be participating so actively in the American political sphere?

Who knows, I think it's great that people want to help out, but it makes me sad that more Americans are not active in this area, especially in a place as politically minded as Brussels.