In one week the American citizens will elect a new president. Also Americans in the Nuremberg region follow the campaign with special interest.
“We have become true news junkies,” the three foreign teaching assistants, Douglas Ballas, Kyle Hartwell and Dave Hardison, admit. Writer Libba Bray agrees as well, as the group met at the German-American Institute (DAI).
Regarding the secrecy of the ballot and privacy, schoolchildren have little to leave out. “The first thing they all wanted to know was for whom I will vote,” reports Dave Hardison, who hails from Philadelphia and now works in a secondary school supporting the English teaching staff. “If they were Americans, almost all of them would have supported Obama,” he learned from his students.
Likewise young people in American also candidly avow themselves to one or another candidate, assert all three foreign teaching assistants. Of course in the Bavarian school system there are policies against being so direct. Teachers are not allowed to explicitly refer to their political stance, so Hardison was not allowed to say. It will be more stressful when it is necessary to explain to them the complicated campaign system. “Most German schoolchildren know central points and information, but still less about the background and our political system,” asserted Doug Ballas, who is from McCain’s home state of Arizona. To adjust that is not his assignment in the long run.
He perceives in the meantime very little from the much-quoted disenchantment with politics. Of course there are schoolchildren who believe it unnecessary to pay attention to politics. In the USA it is beneficial to the candidates to sway young people and to register new voters.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to explain to the Germans that there are in fact good reasons to vote for McCain,” Kyle Hartwell said. She comes from a military family, which traditionally are for the Republican candidates. After a year at a secondary school she teachers at the Erlangen (town just outside of Nuremberg) adult education center and the senior center – and discussed the election with those participants who had an interest in politics. Only one irritated her: “I don’t know why so many like to place bets on the election result.”
She follows the large American media’s coverage daily, as do her colleagues. And she never misses the political satire “The Daily Show,” in which the giants (meaning candidates) are lampooned. Apropos internet. “How Obama consistently takes advantage of this medium is totally new in this campaign,” means Hardison. The crude numbers of the expenditures of both candidates are indeed divine (?): more than $420 million have been spent by both candidates on ads, the lion’s share of which for TV and radio ads.
Kyle sees a second large difference between the last presidential campaign four years ago in terms of basic characteristics: “at that time Bush already was in office; the campaign with Kerry was truly not a campaign. This time it’s between two new candidates – for this reason it’s exciting.” And Obama thus is so popular, especially among students, because he is like the new Kennedy.
Libba Bray, who for the second night is speaking at the DAI library, makes no secret of her political conviction. Since the author from New York began traveling through Germany from book reading to book reading, she has been peppered with all sorts of questions from the audience, in most cases the standard question of who her favorite candidate is. In her case, the answer is no mystery, because she has associated herself with the “young adult supporters” of Obama – because with McCain women would be repressed into antiquated rolls. And although there is much in her books about myths and mystery, there is a deeper meaning of a political message.
With almost unbelievable amazement John Davis follows the campaign. For the first time in the history of the USA a person of color has a good chance to become president. “A historical moment,” says Davis, a musician and music producer in Nuremberg and Fürth (a town just west of Nuremberg). One hears the enthusiasm in his voice. Davis grew up in the state of South Carolina. Davis, 54, experienced as a young child the meaning of racial discrimination. On the bus, he and his mother had to stand in the back, because the front was designated “for whites only,” even when there were free seats. And he is confident, “Obama will make it.”
John Davis, musician and music producer, shows a campaign poster with a picture of Barack Obama. His candidacy is "a historic moment," said Davis. Davis sings in Nuremberg and Fürth.
