Countown to Change: The Cambridge Reaction

By Kevin Adler ‘07

 

 

“Are you an American?” spat a pint-sized Cantabrian, with marked disdain in the final word.

“Yes, I am,” I replied.

I took a moment to ponder where this was going. My new acquaintance had already decided.

“I hate Americans,” he repulsed.

November 2007

At precisely thirty seconds till 4 a.m., a countdown began in the Cambridge Union.

Thirty! Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight! The setting was unabashedly patriotic. Flags draped over mahogany banisters. Red, white, and blue streamers crisscrossed the debating chamber, host to countless luminary and disrepute alike over one hundred-fifty-plus years of history.

Twenty-two! Twenty-one! Twenty! The excitement was palpable. The cavernous room buzzed. Friends from the far-reaches of the globe bounced up and down together, counting each second off with heaving bodies and breathless gasps.

Fifteen! Fourteen! Thirteen! Five-hundred bleary eyes met on the projector screen. A three-toned map of the States appeared, with a preponderance of blue and a contiguous bloc of red and grey – disappearing touches of grey.

Twelve! Eleven! The map gave way to the shadowed outline of students’ upper halves as we overtook the bottom third of the screen.

Ten! We moved closer; heads grew larger, shoulders jostled and torsos appeared.

Nine! We moved closer; hands were raised. Fists pumped. Change was…

Eight! Eight years. Eight years of heavy inquisitions for Americans abroad, all too often disparagingly phrased a la diminutive Cambridge students or Daily Mirror (U.K.) headlines: “How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?”

Seven! What if you did not vote for Bush?

Six! …but you do not think half of your countrymen are “DUMB”?

Five! What if you disagree with the policies of the current government?

Four! …but love the country and what it stands for nonetheless?

Three! As an American abroad, you become a cultural ambassador. You serve as a key source of information for U.S. values, policies and intentions. Your responsibility is even greater with an unpopular president. Regardless of which candidate received your vote, each American overseas unwittingly signs up for an international treaty of a different sort simply by being an American overseas. Think of it as AFTA – Answer for the Administration.

Two! If you have been an American abroad over the past eight years, you probably are a life member of AFTA: my own membership dues were paid during grand taxis rides in Morocco and hillside barbecues in Sarajevo, over spaetzle and wurst in Bavaria and pints in England.

One! But on that Tuesday night in November, the chants were for the next U.S. president.

Yes… McCain graciously conceded.

We Can. And Obama began:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

The election of our 44^th President was celebrated late into that very good British night. Five-hundred bleary eyes welled-up with tears. And we all embraced.

November 2008