Americans Vote (Or not)

So I'm not an American, therefore cannot vote on who becomes the next American president. Some Americans simply do not choose to vote. There was a time though, that the only people that could vote (like many other countries) were white, male, property owners, gradually allowing all races, and both genders after the Civil War.

I'm not going to talk about who I "would vote for if I was American", nor am I going to talk about how one or the other is better than the other.

It's just so interesting, that for the first time in history, Americans have the opportunity to choose a black candidate. It's funny that he has been labelled as "not black enough", because of his ethnicity, and the fact that he has lived in Indonesia, Hawaii and has had a rather good education. This compares to the "real African Americans" who a lot of the time, do not receive the luxury of a higher education, and may have the "chip" of racial resentment on their shoulders. But I'm not too sure. He's far "blacker" than McCain, so wouldn't he be a better option to represent the needs of African Americans? I'm not sure how much of the African American population will actually support Obama. Maybe they distrust him because he doesn't appear to be "black enough". Or maybe, really, they distrust him because of his background, and because he is smart, educated, very able, and extremely successful so far.

And McCain. After learning more about McCain, his relevance to me is so much more, well, relevant. I had dinner on Truc Bach Lake last night. Beautiful, romantic, lights alit, Truc Bach Lake. It's my favourite spot. They make fantastic pho xao. But 40 years prior, this is where John McCain parachuted into and almost drowned, after being shot down. He was then captured by Vietnamese civilians.

He was transported to Hoa Lo prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by Americans. McCain was a Prisoner of War for five and a half years, which involved torture, beatings, solitary confinement and no medical attention to injuries. Pretty severe I must say.

I pass this prison whenever I go into the centre. Sometimes I drive past without even realising, sometimes I stop and think about the fact that this prison was a POW camp, where the communists were held by the French during French rule in Vietnam, and where American soldiers were held during communist rule. The street is the only street in Hanoi to have only one address on it.......the prison.

So Australia, being such a young country, of course, we have a history, but not like this. Right here, in Hanoi, I'm in the thick of it. It's incredible seeing places that hold magnificent, or unebelievable, or horrible histories. I'm sure there are many places around the world that hold such old stories in them. But I haven't seen much of the world.....so I guess I will have to wait and see.

So it will be interesting who is chosen. I always think about the Howard/Rudd "race to Parliament House". Rudd wore psychadelic ties, brushed his hair the other way, was slightly younger, and appealed to the younger generation. In comparison to the older Howard, had already been Prime Minister for four terms, and labelled by some as "out of touch" with the Australian people.

I think some of these elements are shown in the two candidates fighting it out today on the 5th November 2008.

So, I will, in Hanoi, always be thining about the incredible history that I can "witness", learn about, research, and literally visit.

My youth is going to show here, but........I think that is pretty damn cool.

Love.
Cat.

P.S. The rain has stopped, and I can get out, but I still have to walk through lots of water. It's supposed to start raining again tomorrow. No! (Please pray for no rain)

Oh Melbournians, please pray for rain.......