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VOL. 28, NO. 09, Nov 14 , 2008 (Kartik 29 2065 B.S.) |
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“A Janjati Or Dalit Has Been Elected As A President Of United States”
Marcela Sandova
After the announcement of election results in the USA and victory of democratic candidate Barack Obama, there was a big celebration by American expatriates in Kathmandu. The Mike's Breakfast, a popular American restaurant in Naxal, saw gathering of all kinds of people, mostly American citizens living and working in Nepal in different capacities. Organized by a group called Nepal Democrats Abroad, the victory celebration on 5th of November, was interesting. As supporters of American president Obama were celebrating the victory, MARCELA SANDOVA, president of Nepal Democrats Abroad, spoke to KESHAB POUDE at Mike's Breakfast about the role she played to organize the program and make thiscelebration possible. Excerpts:
How do you feel about the victory of Obama as the president of United States?
We are very excited. We organized the Democrats Abroad group in Nepal two years ago when I and Richard Regan (UN World Food Program Country representative) first arrived. Richard and I worked together in Whitehouse under Clinton Administration. We met in 1994. I worked in Clinton's election campaign in 1992. This is not the first country where I organized the Democrats Abroad. I did it in Zambia – which is in Southern Africa. When we moved to North Korea, we were the only Americans there so we could not do anything there.
How did you set up Democratic Abroad in Nepal?
Here in Nepal we met people like James, Linda and few others and set up a Democrats Abroad. Since we are democrats, we thought why not we set up the organization and do something? More importantly, we could vote. The vote we did this year has been a real effort in getting in a democrat. This is one of the reasons democratic candidate Obama own.
Did you vote?
I received my ballot three weeks ago and I sent it three weeks ago. We have just over one hundred democrats abroad in Nepal. This includes registered voters. There was a program to watch the debate. We had more than 70 people who came to each of those events. We had five or six such events. We raised money for Obama. We raised just 5000 dollars for Obama. We have been very active. We would not have been able to raise that kind of money if we were not excited about him. I am from Texas state but unfortunately, in Texas, Obama lost.
What will be the implication of Obama's election as the president of United States to Nepal?
A Janjati or Dalit has been elected as a president of United States. It took 232 years to America to be here. It is monumental change. It is good for Nepal and good for the world.
How do you describe Obama?
He is a multi-racial.
What can Nepal learn from the elections in the United States?
Nepal's democracy is very new and American democracy is over 200 years old. It took us such a long time to reach here. If people are patient and work together, if we give people an opportunity you will get everything. This is what you need to learn from America.
What are the challenges in front of America?
Our country has been passing through a very difficult time. It's got two wars going on and is facing horrible financial crisis. That is affecting the rest of the world.
How much support does the newly elected president Obama have?
All Americans have to support this new president and we need to be patient about him. Nothing is going to happen overnight. May be he can raise my taxes and maybe he can do something I don't like.
How different will the president Obama be?
What I can say is that he is going to be honest and he is going to listen to people that naturally doesn't agree with him. He is not going around the world telling people what to do. He maybe a little bit more democratic.
Do you see any major paradigm shift in American foreign policy?
I am not a foreign policy expert so I cannot comment on this subject. What I can say is that the newly elected president will have a different approach to foreign policy in the sense that he will sit down with the people more than Bush was willing to.
How is your personal feeling?
All of us gathered here are very excited about the results. After the election, all Americans are behind our new president. For the first time and after a long time, we have a new president. I am proud of this.
Individually, what change will it bring to you?
I am proud to be an American citizen and I am proud of my country. The elections are part of our life and every democracy has elections. Once the elections are over, we forget our bitterness of elections campaign. In the last eight years, the way we have acted in Iraq and Afghanistan and horrible things we have been doing around the world were undiplomatic. Such acts increases threat to all individual Americans outside their country.
