Embarassed to be an American, 8,000 miles away

It was a common occurrence while living in India that my family and I would cringe whenever we were asked where we were from. We would gulp after replying with, “we’re from the USA,” as predictable facial expressions dawned on the questioner’s faces. From their smile you could tell that words like obesity, ignorance, prosperity, power, and arrogance crossed their minds. So what? Every country has its faults. However, it was obvious that they were thinking of the most embarrassing representation of our country, aka President Bush. Some inquirers even followed up their question with, “so, did you vote for Bush?” We were then relieved to react, appalled, at the sound of his name.

Although it had been bad enough living in Bethesda and watching him continuously make it more and more embarrassing to be a part of this nation, it got worse when we left for India and then became representatives of the Bush nation. At both of the international schools I attended overseas, Canadian International School (Bangalore) and the American Embassy School (New Delhi), the lack of intelligence and actions of President Bush were used against me in judgment. I was constantly rebutting negative comments made about the US, but eventually I just gave up. By the end of my three years in India, I was anti-American. I would defend America when necessary, but when people went off on tangents about the so-called common oblivion among Americans and jokes about recent Bushisms, I’d either leave it alone or join in.

It took me a while to feel like it was all wrong. There’s a lot of nationalism in India, a progressive country with so much potential, and here I was insulting my own country. Watching the effect of power America has while you’re living abroad, especially in a place like India where they need all the help they can get, like providing education and proper living conditions for all their people, really changes a person’s perspective. Most people like to say that you shouldn’t care about what everyone thinks of you, but when it comes to being the most powerful nation in the world, you realize how important it is for your leader to represent you well.

In America, we live in utter comfort. We don’t watch bombs explode outside our houses or watch them carry away the dead bodies, as most do in Baghdad. Even rapidly developing countries such as India have so much to take care of. Their poverty is still out of control, they need to work on education, and the tax system and the law enforcement can be very corrupt. Americans don’t deal with this on a daily basis and if they did, they might rethink before doing a few common things in their lives. They might change their mind before saying they believe the war in Iraq is what’s best for everyone. I walked past a “jhuggi” or a slum on my way to school in Delhi every morning. It was filled with over 2,000 people in an area smaller than our own school campus. That alone taught me so much about not wasting the things I’m privileged to have, and to also appreciate what I have.

Things are constantly changing in India and how people felt about President Bush changed dramatically around springtime in 2006. He came to Delhi to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the ongoing nuclear deal that was to be settled. There were several protests, dominantly Muslim protesters, against President Bush’s visit as they believed him to be a war criminal and an enemy of Islam. They condemned the invasion in Iraq, did not wish to welcome him to their country, and considered the nuclear deal to be another way of making India a “US lackey,” an insult to India. After how President Bush showed his reasoning behind the Iraq war, I couldn’t blame the protestors, because I could see the connection they were making between their religion and the many deaths in other Muslim nations as a result of a US army invasion. President Bush stayed at the Marayah Sheraton, not too far from my house. He wasn’t the only guest. He maxed out the entire hotel with his security and even bomb sniffing dogs. It was insulting to many that the President of the United States was spending government money to house his security dogs at one of the nicest hotels in Delhi. I was also appalled when I saw many of the street roundabouts aligned with India flags and USA flags, one after the other. It felt like a symbol of arrogance. “He is here.” Things proceeded and he returned to Washington. Thank goodness. I spent my last two years in India with the same feelings towards Bush and the US.

I returned home in June, with hope that our new leader to be elected that fall, wouldn’t fill people like me such shame. Right before the election, the nuclear deal with India was finalized. This “deal” was to remove international sanctions against India and allow it to buy fuel for its civilian nuclear reactors, and to gain access to nuclear technology, investment, and expertise. It overturned a 34-year-old regime of nuclear isolation from India, imposed after it shocked the world with the 1974 atomic explosion which indicated that it had produced nuclear weapons. The sanctions continued because India had refused to sign the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Suddenly all the pieces came together. The US and India are two of the world’s largest democracies, both engaged in conflicts with militant Islamists, India is in dire need of more and better power sources, and the US was now in an economic recession and could definitely use the profits from exchanging with India. India was now much more pro-Bush, because they now have access to the power sources they need to move forward with their continuously booming economy. With my love for India, I was actually very proud that the government was successful with providing this deal with India. It was the first time I was happy to say President Bush did something right. I took close note of how Bush spent his last few weeks or so in office.

As January 20, 2009 came and left, it was no surprise that the media and the American people have definitely shown their mixed feelings towards former President Bush’s departure from the White House. Tabloids lined the shelves with headings talking about Bush in a depressed, drinking state and even announcing that the Bushes were supposedly getting a divorce after his term ended. Although it has been accurately noted by reputable sources that Bush did have a problem with excessive drinking in the past, it’s not quite as serious as these tabloids are displaying it. Believe it or not. According to an interview with Diane Sawyer and former First Lady Laura Bush, he stopped drinking. “"I doubt I would be standing here if I hadn't quit drinking whiskey and beer and wine and all that," President Bush told ABC's Martha Raddatz in an interview at an earlier time in 2008. Living in a “Land of Bush” and attending an international school certainly provides contrasts of the perceptions of Bush’s presidency as many students carry their feelings from their original nations.

Aside from what has been done in the past, everyone is skeptical about what will happen now and in the next four years. It is quite evident that the American Democrats are more than ecstatic to see Bush’s departure. Just Google “Bush’s last day” and you’ll find pages dedicated to celebrating his last day in office. The most famous is, unsurprisingly, www.bushslastday.com, the host of the trademark, 01.20.09. On the website, they state: “A day that will live in history...01.20.09® celebrates the end of the Bush years, and the historic inauguration of Barack Obama. This simple iconic date has become a symbol for change and is the only registered trademark celebrating this historic date. Join us in celebrating Bush's Last Day!”

You can buy pins, t-shirts, balloons, coffee mugs, you name it. As strange as it may seem though, there’s not much left to criticize as we’re waiting upon our new President Obama to take up the issues Bush has left behind. Democratic America hasn’t really given Bush “the finger” as he leaves us, however it would be unnecessary since the Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, basically fulfilled that task when he threw his shoes at Bush during a press conference in Iraq in December 2008. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about this. In some ways, I wished that I could have done the same. I’m sure many people would have liked to have thrown something at Bush. All joking aside, he was the president of the United States and I grudgingly feel he deserved more respect than having shoes thrown at him during his last visit to Iraq.

In terms of presentation, the Bushes did well at the inauguration. The ceremony in which the new first family, along with the Bidens, bid farewell to the Bushes was almost humorous; watching the new president and first lady say goodbye to the Bushes as if they had just come for dinner. It was quite a sight to watch the legendary former President Bush get on the helicopter and fly out of Washington. Symbolic, in some way. Although the former president did well in leaving his reputation in India on a high note, I felt relief as I saw him disappear. I knew that my fellow American friends back in Delhi would have to face the shame of him no longer. As for our new President Barack Obama, we can only hope for the best. Around the world people see him as a symbol of hope, world peace, and it’s evident that good will come with this new presidency. I know that Americans outside their home country will now show pride for their country without the shadow of Bush behind them.