So...from Super(bowl) Sunday to Super Tuesday....its all happening in America this week, and its all making headlines here. The Dutch media is really into following the American primaries and "the road to the White House". I would have to say there is a strong leaning towards the democrats. I think many dutch people love Bill Clinton and his 'legacy', just as many Americans do, which is obviously seen in how many supporters Hillary has. But there is a great interest in the possibility of the first black US president and all the social significance of such a feat in the context of American history and race relations. Even last week, the PM of the Netherlands reprimanded a cabinet member for saying he preferred Obama. I think there is a strong leaning for Obama here as they are intrigued by his call for change, hope for better relations with Europe, and the hope that he would not enter into unnecessary war. Most of the Dutch public news channels have reporters in the US, some have been following the primary race from Iowa to NH to South Carolina and this past week have been in New York City. They find the 24 hour coverage of this "news" of such cable networks like CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc so funny; "everything is bigger in America". Does the voting really change that much they need full coverage 24/7? Well, I guess you just have to be in the US to understand such culture - Americans are always wanting everything in 'real time', they want to know what's going on and now. Its the same with entertainment- some Americans need to be entertained constantly (thus the high level of ADD in the US probably!!). So, you could look at the news as entertainment...but that's a different subject.
Wednesday morning at the US Embassy in The Hague, there was a "Super Tuesday Breakfast"...starting at 630am. On Wednesday morning here, it is still Tuesday in the US, and the results are coming in. At that point in the day, it was being declared that CA went to Clinton. They dedicated several minutes to this party on the morning news, even reporting live from there (not normal to report live from somewhere here in Holland), and interviewing the ambassador. They showed some nice doughnuts too, that two 20 something year old girls were serving and saying, "yes, typical American". Ah, the things we are known for around the world. Since Schwarzenegger is good friends with the ambassador here, he had a live feed to Arnold in Vegas, saying hello to his friend and to the embassy. American glitz and glamor! Even thousands of miles away!
The main point of this, is that there is a great interest and concern about the choice for president in the US, as it means so much for world politics, economics, peace, and stability.
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First of all let me say that I'm glad they care so much so it's easy for you to keep up to date with everything here without having to do much tracking down :)
However, I think this is interesting to me. I feel like the "America as a Superpower" debate is really a vicious cycle. I mean, people (aka, non-Americans) complain about it...but at the same time, the fact that the entire world cares so much more about what's going on here than anyone here cares about what's going on in the rest of the world really only feeds the issue. What an ocean of muddy waters...
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