On Being An American in Panama During the 2008 Presidential Election

November 1, 2008

I am so nervous, I can hardly sit still. Yesterday I made 15 super-extra-long distance phone calls from our house in Panama City to voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania to encourage them to vote next Tuesday or before. Between each call, I got up and paced around the room, adjusting the fan and the curtains to minimize the breathtaking humidity in the house. When I got back to Panama a week ago from my two-week trip to the cool, temperate U.S. Mid-Atlantic, I walked from the air-conditioned plane into the air-conditioned airport, and from there, outdoors, into a blanket of warm, wet wool. I could have swept some of the air into a jar, put it in the fridge,. and had a full drink of water from the condensation. My skin, which had resumed its normal fine-pored, dry texture in the US, was back to sticky within minutes. The climate here is like a big, panting dog that follows on your heels, even into the bathroom.

We want Obama to win so badly that we can't concentrate on anything. Even that. I have abandoned my usual Spanish language TV channels in favor of madly flipping from CNN to the BBC and back again to parse the news from the commercials and gain reassurance that Obama is still the favorite to win. CNN plays his (and McCain's) campaign speeches wherever they go, and I could recite both mens' by now, but I can't stop watching. I can't imagine a greater contrast between two men, and two visions of America. That's a good thing, I hope. The more stark the contrast, the more accurate a referendum this election is on Americans' view of the world and our place in it.

I have asked a number of Panamanians about their views of our election. They range from the predictable to the bizarre, but all the neighbors and teachers at Rich's school with whom I have spoken favor Obama. Panamanians know firsthand what it's like to have America boss them around, and they take a dim view of our war in (on) Iraq. They also have long experience of American racism, both the overtly hostile kind, and the subtly condescending kind. My Spanish teacher favors Obama because he seems like a reasonable man who might have a clue how the world's brown-skinned peoples experience the world. Our next-door neighbor, a truck driver for his wife's home-based customs business, believes that George Bush coordinated the 9/11 attack with Bin Laden... Needless to say, he doesn't trust McCain.

On the other side are some of the students at Rich's school (and presumably, their parents). Most of the kids are indifferent or uninformed about the U.S election, having no connection with North America, but the more sophisticated and older students have taken an interest. The International School of Panama (ISP) draws from a broad community of educated Panamanian and foreign families. Most of the students have Latin American parents; and about half of them have lived in Panama most of their lives. Many of the parents are businesspeople or professionals in law, medicine, or politics. The Mayor of Panama City sends his children to ISP.

In Rich's economics class an argument erupted this week between the Obama supporters and two McCain supporters. Rich said it was fascinating to watch, and watch-only he did, to stifle his impusle to flatten the McCain advocates. "They were my two weakest students in that class, and their peers made short work of dismantling their arguments in support of McCain." I guess if introductory econ students can see that our emperors have no clothes and that Obama has done his homework (a concept they understand) it bodes well for the upcoming generation.

This coming week is Rich's first week off since starting the school year on August 11th. Most teachers immediately leave town, to go to the beach or to other countries for a vacation. We will travel a bit in western Panama... after the election. Until next Tuesday night, we are glued to the news from the country it turns out we really do love.