Denk Obama, Eet Obama: The Presidential Race from the NL

As part of my acculturation to this land of flatness, wetness, and slowly abating winter darkness, I loaded dozens of Dutch-language songs onto my MP3 player, including an album of songs to root on the “Oranje”, the Dutch national football side as they pressed into World Cup 2006. One such song was “Nederland is Oranje” by iconic pop star Guus Meeuwis.

I reference this because the word ‘Oranje’ sounds a little like the word ‘Obama’, the name of the candidate I am rooting on to the White House in a competition I described to my Italian boss as “a combination of the soccer World Cup, the England-Australia Ashes Test Cricket Match (which took about as long as the New Mexico Democratic Caucus), and the pre-steroids Tour de France.

“Ik praat oranje, denk oranje, eet oranje, drink oranje” goes the line from the Meeuwis tune. As my thoughts move increasingly westward on the eve of Wisconsin’s primary, the tune morphs into “praat Obama, denk Obama, eet Obama, drink Obama.”

The US presidential race has become compelling theatre—the young articulate, African-American Senator from Illinois Barack Obama building a lead over the erstwhile First Lady, Hillary Clinton, for whom the nomination race was expected to be a coronation instead of a state-by-state come-from-behind jihad.

Without going into the complexities of the Presidential selection process and the alternatives for Clinton to attempt to seize victory in the face of voter repudiation, what has been amazing is how this American expat has been able to be completely plugged into what is happening and to have outlets to participate meaningfully.

I’ve made two $100 donations to the Obama campaign. My view is that while I need the money worse than the Obama campaign does, those contributions have bought me seats in the arena. I’m no longer a disconnected supporter living in a foreign country—I’m a contributor, just as much as anyone in Des Moines, Springfield, Madison or Scarsdale is.

I’m an Obama voter—having voted in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary—and my vote is going to make a difference in the delegate count.

I’m running to be an Obama caucus delegate—reprising a role I played for the last serious insurgent to seek the Democratic nomination, Gary Hart in 1984 as a regional caucus delegate in Madison, Wisconsin.

I’m contacting my friends in the upcoming primary states and engaging them about why the positives a vote for Obama is worth setting aside the kind of concerns being raised by Hillary Clinton and her team, with some degree of success.

But mostly, I’m a fan, and as a fan who used to run political campaigns for a living, the amount of entertainment and stimulation I’m getting from this campaign is unbelievable. The Internet is certainly a source—the ability to log on and read articles suggesting alternative strategies or analyzing the complexities underneath the behavior of different demographic groups is a real plus. YouTube has been a particular revelation—letting me mainline Obama’s numerous recent victory speeches and, when the spirit strikes me, to fire up the excellent “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama” by “Obama Girl.”

Part of the stimulation though comes from being a rare person with an actual vote in a sea of highly interested, and often perplexed bystanders. Several months ago, I had a conversation with a particularly formidable client who was questioning Obama’s electability, particularly relative to Hillary Clinton. My reply—focusing on the new spirit of insurgency in a Democratic electorate tired of losing—wasn’t particularly convincing. With more open minded Europeans, the conversations have ranged from the elementary (this is how a caucus works) to the wide-rangingly geopolitical.

Interestingly, with discount telephone services and telephone numbers supplied by the candidate, I could conceivably phone bank into Ohio or Texas this weekend if I feel like it, just as I’d be doing if I was back in the States. Even though I’m physically the furthest I’ve been from a competitive race for the Presidency, the race is at my fingertips, twenty four hours a day.