Gerbamia

This is the new word I coined for the collective thoughts and feelings of Germans toward the Obamas. Many fellow Americans have asked me some version of the following in the past year: "What do Germans think about Obama?" Sometimes added on, "Are they as crazy about him as we are?" Then they make it personal: "Do you feel a little better being an American abroad?" Sometimes they jump directly, by way of assumption, to, "Bet the US has a better reputation abroad now that we have the Obama administration."

All I can say is that, according to Die Zeit, a major German newspaper, (Link for those who read German), Obama is appearing to Germans in their dreams. One woman in this article describes getting into a car with Obama; she didn't know why, but there was a "clear sense of departure." Another dreamer discovers a check for 300,000 € in the back pocket of her jeans - signed by Michelle Obama. On a similar note, a middle-aged man dreamed he received a job offer from the US president. His new role? To help Obama understand the hearts and minds of the Germans.

But as with all things German, this enthusiasm is tempered with some sobriety. Before the November 2008 election, as Obama was leading the polls, Germans kept saying, "Well, even if he makes it, he's gonna got shot." This is just an indication of how desperately the world needed a leader to give us a little more hope and faith. Luckily, I don't hear this fear/comment any more.

But the skepticism has lingered in other forms; Germans are very hesitant, for example, to embrace the charisma that Obama possesses. The caution comes from fact that the most charismatic German leader on the books is also the one responsible for millions of brutally ended lives. (Here is a clear explanation of how a ban on political rhetoric and pomp and circumstance got written into the German constitution post-Hitler.) Therefore, modern Germans are used to politicians who are (lifeless), matter-of-fact reciters of their positions. So no matter how much Obama proves to be a man of his word, Germans will hold his rhetorical prowess against him to some degree.

By the same principle, many Germans were grotesquely fascinated watching the unprecedented ceremony surrounding Obama's ascension to office. In fact, I would wager to say that Obama's being sworn in captured significantly more TV viewers than a major event leading up to next week's German general election: the formal debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her contender, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It isn't that Germans don't care about domestic politics or don't want to know where Merkel and Steinmeier stand. It is just that politics in Germany is far more about parties than about individuals, so a TV duel is contrived in the first place. And, as Obama was taking his oath, I do think a lot of emotion - whether permitted or not - welled up in the collective German Geist.

(That this essay leaves out how Germans view Obama's individual policies is intentional. Each topic could be a blog entry in itself: health care, Afghanistan, economic stimulus policies, actions against global warming... Suffice to say what is obvious to anyone with a few ounces of grey matter: a welcome departure from the white man with the cowboy hat.)

Lemme aks you summthin

There was a lot of talk about the "the black vote" being the weight that carried Proposition 8 through in California last November. African Americans, who vote Democratic in many instances, took a departure from the Democratic platform on the topic of gay marriage. (According to Wikipedia, 70% voted for the measure to put the clause, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," into the state constitution.) That is why I want to tell you a story that goes against the cliché of homophobic African Americans.

This morning, while having my car towed, I got to talking with one of the tow truck drivers, who was a gregarious and funny middle-aged black man.
He was flirting with me in a harmless way, saying, "You got a boyfriend? Cuz, say, you cute."

The towing turned into a visit to the mechanics at his garage, giving us ample opportunity to chat. He told me about the neighborhood, serving in the marines, busting his knee cap, getting to know a few Amish people on a trip hauling electrical equiptment to Chicago last week ("I respect 'em. That's a modest way a life."), and everything in between.

Toward the end of our encounter, he said, "Let me aks you one more thing. You tell me now if I make you uncomftable. You don't hafta answer."
For a second I wondered if he was going to ask me to comment on being a white woman spending the morning with two black men.

"You know earlier I aks you if you have a boyfriend and you says no?"

"Yeah..." Then I was sure he was just going to ask for my phone number - and sorely disappointed. I never expected what came next:

"You got a girlfriend?"

I said, "No, sir, I don't, but I am glad you asked me that." It is the first time in my life I have ever been asked.

"You never know nowadays. My daughter's gay. My ex-wife, too. But it don't bother me one bit."

The other tow truck driver weighed in critically: "Yeah, I know some girls they that way, and I aks em sometimes what make em like that, and they say, 'I bin hurt by too many guys,' but I think, women's capable a hurtin, too."

This opened the door for my conversation partner to respond with eloquent disagreement: "Yeah I hear ya man, but ain't nobody made em like that, that's just nature." Then he looked back at me: "You ain't angry a'me for aksin' are ya?"

"No, not at all," I said, wishing I could let him know how much I admired his candid style. "I respect you for asking me that."

"Ahright. Cuz I wouldn'ta thought any diffrently of ya if you'd a said yes."