The Presidential election

A sense of doubt always hangs in the air the night before an election, even if there is a big spread in the latest polls, because really all that matters is the vote tally on election day. It’s a little odd to be overseas during such an important election, but I am glad that it’s almost over (I remember talking about it with students in Spain nearly three years ago as rumors emerged about who was going to run), and I’m happy to be removed from all the day-to-day advertisements and gossip. It’s allowed me to take a more critical view and a wider perspective on the race.

Every Chinese paper today had a long article on the election and will certainly have extensive coverage of the results in Thursday’s edition. You can read a collection of views on the election from people around the world in The Guardian.

Everyone is connected to the United States and every nation is affected by our policies, but it’s notable that many in Asia feel strongly that America’s influence is declining as others grow in wealth and power.

In one young Chinese man’s view, "America is going down, while China is rising up." Another commented that "A lot of young people still think America is our enemy. They're quite happy with the sub-prime crisis - they think this is China's chance."
The sentiment in Russia is similar: "We don't beg from the west any more and Washington can't order us around like it did in the 1990s."
Kishore Mahbubani, a Singaporean former diplomat and now dean of a public policy school, is one of my favorite commentators on current events and he recently described how Asia is handling the and coming out ahead. He’s written several books on how Asia and the West differ, and how the West will no longer dominate world affairs. The subprime crisis and the financial bankruptcies in the Europe and America are one such example of the reversal of roles between the two.

If I have no trouble sleeping tonight I’ll be up in time to see the first results from the East Coast come in as polls close and hopefully see the final results before my first class at 1:25 pm (my morning classes were cancelled for exams).