We Need Obama

The Democrats should win in the United States because they will lower the anti-Americanism of the Spanish left. This is the only reason that Obama’s victory is worth the trouble. It would be a relief. At least for a little while we would stop hearing nonsense about the Empire, about Israel as a launching point in the Middle East for worldwide capitalism, or about the unbearable campaigns of Palin’s supporters against Darwinism, Marxism, and Freudianism. Liberal Spaniards not only disagree with the policies of Republicans, they also consider the United States to be an outrage and a threat.

It’s true that in international politics there have always been sympathies and animosities. Uninvolved in World War I, Spaniards could allow themselves the luxury of supporting either the Allies or the Germans. The Blue Division was a symbolic fact, while during the Civil War help from Great Britain secretly arrived for us. The United States always had a strong opposition for their involvement in the loss of Cuba from everyone except the PNV (Basque Political Party). Arana congratulated the American government for its invaluable collaboration against Spain. But the left’s hate of the United States grows stronger because of Cuba. Che was the spark of disobedience and Castro was its way to victory. Now there’s Chavez. The case of Chile still hasn’t been taken up by the left. They don’t understand that Ricardo Lagos opposed what Garzon could judge of Pinochet in Madrid. In Havana, my friend Zaldivar continues carrying out the orders of Zapatero, an authority standing for the repulsive human tower and shame of humanity, Castro.

Obama’s victory is an exit that we all agree on. For Zapatero, because this way he can blame the international right for the economic crisis, and for people like me, because we can stop hearing nonsense about the United States. What a relief!