Travelling While American

As Alan noted last week, this blog isn’t about US politics, but as that’s what all the talk is about these days, there is inevitably some talk about travel and politics. MSNBC’s Christopher Elliott has today’s article on the topic. I think the most important question he asks is:

3. Which candidate will help international travellers?
America’s standing in the world community is at a low point, according to a survey conducted by the BBC World Service last year. That’s made international travel difficult for Americans, who often find themselves harassed or blamed for foreign policy decisions (like invading another country) they had nothing to do with. Some just lie and claim to be Canadian in order to be left alone. “The notion of the ugly American long predates George Bush, of course, but Bush’s time in office has produced a sea change in how Americans are regarded abroad,” says Matt Petersen, a director for a nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Va. He believes Obama is the best candidate to repair America’s battered image abroad. He may have a point. If McCain kept U.S. troops in Iraq for the next 100 years, it would probably be unhelpful, at least to our image.

I think this is the first thing an America traveller/adventurist would think about in election season, and it surprises me that Elliott puts it as his third. Recently on a flight to the US, the couple behind me commented that while in Paris people on the streets would walk up to them and applaud them for their Obama shirts. That an American would even pack clothing that would identify their nationality while travelling says that there is something reversing the trend that Elliott points out. It is being reversed both in that Americans are proud to be American, and the ascendance of Obama  has served as a sign to the world that Americans as a people aren’t well represented by the current administration’s policies.

Unfortunately Elliott concludes in a fairly silly manner:

As a traveler, your vote for president is close to meaningless. The major candidates are taking you for granted, showing you little of the love they lavish on other special-interest groups.

But don’t stay home on Election Day. Instead, vote for the man you dislike the least, or don’t vote for president at all. Instead, pull the lever for a local candidate

I think this is a naive view of politics, and one that Elliott himself refutes by pointing out that an American would certainly have a more pleasant trip abroad if Obama were President.