Can an American be a Citizen of the World?

Last night Barack Obama made a speech in Berlin in which he said that he was:

"A proud citizen of the United States and the fellow citizen of the world."

I have to admit, I cringed. Not because I don't believe that I am a citizen of the United States and of the world - because I absolutely do - but because I don't think that line is going to play so well in many people's heads in the States. I can see the newspapers now: "Barack Obama Citizen of the World!" Headlines that conveniently drop the first part of that sentence to focus on some kind of supposed disloyalty to the American people.

Obama's little jaunt around my neck of the woods has caused a striking amount of discussion in Europe. The commentary, I think, has been very interesting.

Columnists ask, "why is it that Europeans like Obama so much?"

Which is, frankly, a VERY good question. Europe, folks, for all their high minded attitudes, is a racist place. In the EuroCup that was just played, organizers had to put up advertisements reminding fans to be respectful of people of different colors - because the fans would throw cups of beer at the black players and call them monkeys. Before every game, they had each team say a short statement about racial solidarity.

In England, there is severe mistreatment of Pakistanians. France? Has a huge problem with a very large African population. And Germany? Well, apparently they've got a Turkish population they can't stand.

And do I even need to mention how the entire continent feels about the Roma population?

So the commentator's questions are more than valid. It's not just that Obama is seen as the opposite of Bush, and that McCain is seen as a Bush extension. So why does Obama have a 85% approval rating in Western Europe, and has just now toppled McCain in the race to win Russian hearts and minds?

Jack Lang, the former Socialist Culture Minister in France, said it was because he represents “the America we love ... the youth and racial mix of an America under transformation and in movement”.

Which, have to give credit to Abe Greenwald of the Times of London for pointing out, if that's the America the French love, then "why are they demographically aging, defined by tribal identity, and violently resistant to reform?

But that very excellent point is besides my point and question.

I had the privilege of watching Obama's Berlin speech with some Moldovan friends, an interesting experience on multiple levels. First of all, it was being dubbed over in Romanian, and so I was very close to strangling the tv announcer for being so screechy. Secondly, they cut off the speech in the very middle.

What the heck was that all about?

But it was really very interesting because it led to a discussion on America - how Europeans look upon it, how we look upon ourselves, how we look upon Europeans, how we look upon others who look upon us, etc. It was a twisted conversation.

My main point, initially, was that the 200,000 people at this rally for Obama in Berlin does not bode well for his candidacy in the States, that his 85% approval rating was probably a bad thing. Dar de ce? Oare Americanii nu doresc sa lucreze cu lumea? Well, yes, Americans kind of want to work with the world....

Or at least about half of us do?

Nu doresc sa fie America de a placut din nou?

Well yes, I think it would be pretty cool if America was liked again.

Atunci de ce?

Why indeed.

Because there's nothing more dangerous than a president who is too close to the Europeans? Because we think Europe is soft, that your people don't have it takes to get the job done, and when push comes to shove we always have to save your continent's...măgar. Because too many European men are pretty boys, and you make our presidents look effeminate, and we can't be having that.

Because we don't care what you think, and the more you push us the more we're going to do the exact opposite of what you say just because you told us to. We're ornery like that.

Nu ne intelegem.

I don't understand it sometimes either. Looks kind of childish when it's all typed out like that, although I gotta agree with the whole Europe's been ... pansy- măgar when it comes to combat. I think it has something to do with us thinking we're god's gift or something (and I say this without a hint of sarcasm or irony).



In Moldova there is still a very strongly held belief that America is the land of opportunity and riches. They understand that there is a severe economic crisis, and yet I've had many people ask if I can bring them over to work.

We've done really well, extraordinarily well, at perpetuating the idea of the American dream.

And that's what it is... it's an idea. And it's one that I was taught and raised on from a very early age.

I was taught, I told my friends, that America is the best country on earth. That we were destined for greatness. That we had the best government, the best country, the smartest people, and some people say that God destined this greatness himself. Manifest Destiny may have started out as just a complete and utter takeover of the central part of North America, and dominion over every native tribe, but it ended up being rationalization for the mission to promote and defend democracy throughout the world.



I never really thought about how odd it was to be raised with the idea that you were a citizen of the greatest country on earth until my friends looked at me all wide-eyed last night. There's been a lot of talk about arrogance and presumption lately, but geez... the idea that America was the best was a part of our daily diet.




But they were also, apparently, a part of the rest of the worlds as well.





Ronald Regan, in his fairwell address to the nation, quoted (not for the first time) early pilgrim John Winthrop to talk about his vision of America as a "Shining City on a Hill." He said:

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still."

Beautiful.

I don't care what Regan's politics or policies were, it feels to me like he saw America like people on the outside see America - a place "stronger than oceans" and "teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace."


And I think it's that very vision that has made people so very upset at us. And also identifies, fairly succinctly, why Barack Obama is so attractive to them.

Because the idea of America has been tainted for some - and maybe it's not that people take pleasure in cutting down the big guy on the block - maybe it's that we're a disappointment. It hurts to have something you believe in taken away, and people all over the world absolutely believe in the idea of America. And when something you believe in gets taken away, people can react quite violently.


The people of Europe wouldn't have come out in throngs to see Gordon Brown, or Sarkozy, or any other world leader I can think of.... although you could probably gather a few thousand in protest against a few. But people came out to see Obama - people care about some candidate for office in a country not their own - because of America. He makes them believe that America can be that the Shining City on the Hill again. He represents, in all his "unlikely" story, the best possibilities of America, the promises of America.


Manifested.


To quote the movie that comes out today, they really Want to Believe.


In our idea. In the American idea.





So can an American be a Citizen of the World?

To a certain extent, how can we not be? And I'm not talking, farms in the midwest causing the foodcrisis kinda way....



It's our principles and ideals that are consistently looked to, the world over.

We have been the instigators of international laws and organizations.

We are the motivators - in form and function - of the change we did not seek.



Doesn't the question become then: do Americans have what it take to be true American citizens? and do we even know what that dream means anymore?