Meanwhile, Back In The U.S. of A...

Over here in Sweden, we're watching the U.S. presidential race closely and with great consternation. And by "we," I mean myself and every Swede I know. A colleague came up to me at work last week and said, agitatedly, "Megan, what do you think is going to happen? Are people really going to vote for McCain?" And I had to tell him that I have no idea what's going to happen, because unfortunately, people are going to vote for McCain. U.S. politics have become so divisive, our left and right so deeply divided, that at this point I personally can't even stomach a debate with the other side. I can no longer understand where they're coming from at all. We might as well not speak the same language, and no amount of interpreting would help me to understand how anyone could support a campaign that aims to keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, cut taxes for the rich, and make abortion illegal even in cases of rape and incest. Not to mention Sarah Palin's alleged efforts to have her ex-brother-in-law fired, without cause, from his public-service post and to censor "objectionable" books from Alaskan public libraries. If McCain wins, we're not just going to be stuck with another four to eight years of the same badness we've got right now, we're going to philosophically step back 50 years, and quite probably lose key legal rights that are supposed to be guaranteed every citizen. (See ya later, freedom of speech... We'll miss you, Roe v. Wade and Coffin v. United States).

I would like to think Obama's got it in the bag, but I'm frankly, I'm terrified of the Average American, who voted for Dubya twice. Because the media tends to lean left and pretty much everyone I know is either a liberal or a member of the media or both, I don't have a solid grasp of how the majority of Americans really feel about this race. McCain's campaign is a shitshow, his choice of running mate is an international joke... it's embarrassing, really. Europeans are fascinated by Sarah Palin. She's a gripping public figure, precisely because she has no business being a public figure.

So, every time someone asks me what I think the outcome of this race will be, I just say, "well, if McCain wins, I'm staying in Sweden, and my husband will move over here to join me." And whichever Swede I'm talking to just nods soberly, because that's a perfectly rational plan given the gravity of the situation. More than ever before, it's clear to me that the fate of America is the world's fate. We're teetering on the edge of the shitter, and if we splash in, a lot of innocent bystanders are coming with us.

I'll be hosting an election party at my tiny apartment on November 4 (or, well, actually it'll probably be the wee hours of November 5th, here), squeezing in as many of my Swedish friends and colleagues as possible to eat hamburgers and apple pie as the results roll in. Like a lot of Americans, we'll be getting shitfaced that night... either in celebration or despair.