Thoughts from the Obama Cafe

During the time I have lived in and traveled through other countries I have noticed that certain elements of American society are admired, emulated, and respected by outside cultures.  Jazz, Hollywood, and the Old West are certain cultural features that have captured the imagination of people outside the boundaries of the U.S. and I have encountered hundreds of places that pay homage to these iconically American features across all cultures I have visited.  The same is true with political figures.  In my travels I have run across a multitude of things named for Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy as they were American leaders who left a deep and abiding positive impact on the world's psyche.  Conversely, I have never encountered anything outside my home country that honored Richard Nixon or George W. Bush.  Despite the GOP frenzy to name almost every airport, park, and roadway after Ronald Reagan, no such enthusiasm exists outside the boundaries of the U.S. for the Gipper.  Not once have I been in a Cafe Reagan or traveled down a Ronald Reagan Boulevard outside the lower 48.  I think it says something about our current president that many Americans can't comprehend or understand, that I have a seen a few positive displays toward Obama.  Yesterday, in fact, I had my tea in Cafe Obama, where I was greeted by a welcoming, life-sized photo of our President and where I enjoyed my beverage under the watchful gaze of an Obama mural.

Do the Kyrgyz like President Obama because he physically resembles them more than the average white President?  Do they like him because he doesn't speak in harsh tones against Islamic people?  Do they like him because he hasn't started any major wars against Islamic countries?  Do they like his calm voice of moderation and reason?  Perhaps, to some degree, it's a little of all of the above. In my brief discussions with people here, I find that they aren't aligned against me as an American and one of the reasons is that President Obama is seen as a reasonable and fair person.  How peculiar and ironic is it that those I have met in Kyrgyzstan speak about the President of my own country with more respect, knowledge, and nuance than many of those I encountered when I lived in Arkansas?

On the other hand, everyone I've talked to about politics is horribly alarmed by the rhetoric they are hearing of all Muslims being banned from the U.S. and wild-eyed politicians talking about carpet bombing parts of the Islamic world.  "Will we be banned from the entering U.S.?"  asked one of my Islamic co-workers who had completed his doctorate degree at the University of Minnesota after the fall of the Soviet Union.  My co-worker, who has even served for a couple years from Kyrgyzstan as an officer of the UM Golden Gopher International Alumni Association and who regularly returns to the U.S. to do things on behalf of his beloved alma mater, who loved his time in Minnesota, even he is now very afraid about where the U.S. is headed.  I spoke to another person who was reluctant to do business with the US if it was about to elect a President who would keep him out of the country.  "How can I conduct business, if I am suddenly blocked from the U.S.?"  The inflammatory words of politicians are heard even 10,000 miles away and they are frightening everyone; these words hurt business and these words and attitudes will not bring any positive good to the U.S.  And if these words ever became policies...well let's just say we can be pretty sure there won't be any Trump Cafes opened or Cruz Boulevards named anywhere in the world.  Sadly, I don't try to reassure my Kyrgyz friends when they question me, because I, too, am very afraid my country is losing its mind.  All I can do is sit in the Obama Cafe and quietly sip my tea.