It's Obamamania big time in Malaga. On election day I brought two of my students to a radio program to talk about what was going on and to offer an American perspective. I didn't want them to feel nervous so didn't tell them that we were going to be on the largest audience program in the local market, with a listenership of over 50,000, or so I was told, anyway. They did real well and spoke articulately about issues and the candidates. We were on the air for about 45 minutes. Last night I participated in a tertulia on the Málaga A Debate program on a local TV channel. Over ninety minutes! Lots of time to talk. It was fun and the other participants were extremely knowledgeable. This morning in the op-ed page of Sur, Teodoro León Gross expresses pretty much what I was trying to say at the end of last night's program: European attitudes towards the US are sometimes rather condescending. OK, Spain, are you ready to elect a gypsy president? How about even someone with an immigrant background? Not a chance, not now anyway. True, immigration is a recent phenomenon in Spain, and eventually the children of today's immigrants will find themselves involved in the political process, but the gypsies have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years and they are still completely segregated from mainstream society. Many Spaniards will tell you that they exclude themselves, that they don't want to integrate. As they say here, y un pepino! So thanks, Teo, you expressed my thoughts much better than I could. (In the photo, Moncloa Palace, site of the presidency of the Spanish governmnet.)
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