One thing is certain, if “Barry Obama” wins the presidency, the U.S. image over here will change overnight. It’ll probably change everywhere, including in America itself, but more than one person here has commented about his Indonesian connection, and what an Obama victory would mean to people. Obama spent four years as a child here, with his mother and stepfather (an Indonesian). It really is pretty hard to believe that a kid who roamed the streets of Jakarta nicknamed “Barry” (everyone has a nickname here) and attended local schools (very rare for expat kids), could be the next U.S. president.
There’s little I hate more than bandwagoning, and I was thinking Clinton is the best available choice, experience-wise, but it’s hard not to be moved by Obama’s oratory. His Iowa victory is really exciting. It would be nice to have a president who not only can speak English, but can do it so well (if only he had some executive experience). It’s also moving to see the reactions to Iowa; here are some from abroad, and this is from Harlem:
Another woman who remembers America 50 years ago watches Obama's victory and tells me she's never seen anything like this in her entire life. Someone says, "Doesn't he look like a president?"
(Via this, it turns out Andrew Sullivan is a big Obama fan).
What’s really great is that Obama didn’t win this round because of Harlem (or Jakarta). It was Iowa after all. But Jakarta and Harlem could still hurt him, of course. Daniel Pipes, who’s had his share of cynical jingoism (I can remember some from when I heard him speak in D.C. a few times), outdoes himself here, writing “Was Barack Obama a Muslim?” (via this).
As you can see, I’ve had too much unproductive time on my hands this week, mostly because I got the official Jakarta “welcome”: I was sick as a dog. After spending a few days working up in the mountains above Jakarta, I came back and spent the next few days holed up in my room (haven’t really emerged yet). The mountains, besides being a quiet place to read and write, also taught me where Jakarta floods originate (it never stopped raining for more than an hour) and reminded me what “cold” feels like (aside from A/C that is).
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Here’s a Makassarese (South Sulawesi) restaurant. The picture hanging on the top left is of the Ka’bah in Mecca, flooded in the 1941.
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