Inauguration Day: or "American Exceptionalism in the Political Sphere"

My favorite item of the 2008 election. I like how they both look really creepy. That should be an issue.

Well, it's Inauguration Day (it's been Inauguration Day here much longer than there). All day, I've had people asking me if I was going to watch it. Ya, I guess, if it's on I said. But why would it be on? We do get a Russian news channel on our TV, but this is usually dedicated to the minutiae of Putin, Medvedev, and Co. I turned on the TV just to find what station the news channel is and I know I am there when I see a photo montage of Obama and the 2004-2008 campaign. I was looking at the BBC news webpage and just before the page loaded, I knew exactly what was going to occupy the most space.

So, does the rest of the world just have a problem with voyeurism? or are we, America, that interesting? 

Lately, I've also noticed the emphasis the rest of the world puts on the fact that Obama is the first African-American president of the United States. Or maybe it's been like that in the US, too, I dunno. Or maybe I haven't been indoctrinated by 24 hour news channels (which are a pet peeve of mine) to recognize how historic this. I guess it's a mark of how my generation has grown up (or maybe how I grew up, in total isolation of mainstream attitudes in the foothills of northern California), but I really don't think Obama's race is that big of a deal. I mean, ya, it's historic, I'm sure. Does that change how I think of him as a senator, a man, or President? Thank God, no.

So, getting back to this idea with the rest of the world as voyeurs... My own personal theory is that race, especially in Europe, is a HUGE issue, and so that's why European media is covering the Inauguration so heavily. Because America has proven that it doesn't have to be an issue, she has shown the rest of the world it can be done. At the risk of using a word that may or may not have been trademarked by the Committee to Elect Barak Obama, I daresay it provided a lot of ...hope... to Europe. In my American history class the other day, I was teaching about "Manifest Destiny" and so we started talking about American exceptionalism. It's not at all surprising (or maybe it is) that out of all the nationalities represented in the room (Turkish, Korean, Finnish, American, Russian) there's a cultural parallel. However, I don't know how many of you watched a live broadcast when Tarja Halonen was sworn in as president of Finland back in 2000, or Lee Myung-bak, Abdullah Gul, or even Dmitriy Medvedev; draw your own conclusion.