A Letter from America

At 6am on Monday morning, groggy from jetlag and the 15mg of valium I took on the plane, I sat in a taxi in downtown San Francisco waiting to be driven to a car rental company. The driver asked if it was my first time in San Francisco and I told him that it was. In the blunt light of dawn, we crashed up and down San Francisco’s inclined streets, and I noticed steam rising from the man-hole covers. It was America as I had imagined it. Lurching down another main road, he pointed and said, “There’s a lone midget hooker”. When I looked I saw a dwarf in an uncompromising red dress checking her long, blonde hair in a shop window. There was no hint of judgement by the taxi driver. This was not America as I had imagined it.

Nor was the needlessly large but hybrid rental car I was given; I’d wanted a beat up ’49 Hudson à la Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. However, it struck me as I drove over the Golden Gate bridge and

... he pointed and said, “There’s a lone midget hooker”. When I looked I saw a dwarf in an uncompromising red dress checking her long, blonde hair in a shop window. There was no hint of judgement by the taxi driver. This was not America as I had imagined it.

stopped at a vantage point on the north side of the bay that what I had received was more reflective of modern America, with its inherent contradictions and conflicts. Presidential elections are reminders that such a vast country has to accommodate the different views of 300 million people.

California has voted Democrat for the last five elections, and it is no surprise that this liberal state has gone Obama’s way again. Perhaps that’s why the Americans at my hotel didn’t seem overly concerned by the election, even though television channels pumped out endless predictions,

Americans at my hotel didn’t seem overly concerned by the election, even though television channels pumped out endless predictions, analysis and sound bites

analysis and sound bites. Barely a soul looked up as the American football game showing at the bar was interrupted by short interviews with each of the candidates, Obama looking weary but confident, Romney with a background of carefully placed football paraphernalia.

I am not a US citizen but I did manage to vote on election day, in a ballot run by the organisers of my conference. Our vote was a landslide 90% victory for Obama. Later, at the conference dinner, whispers of an Obama victory in the real election were whirling around the room by the time we were

It’s Fox news,” he said, “they’ve called it for Obama.” We knew then that a Democrat victory was certain. Back in the bar, as Obama spoke, the feeling in the room was one of relief rather than excitement

onto the second course. I called over an American colleague whose face was lit up by their smart phone and asked what was happening. “It’s Fox news,” he said, “they’ve called it for Obama.” We knew then that a Democrat victory was certain. Back in the bar, as Obama spoke, the feeling in the room was one of relief rather than excitement. ‘Four more years’ does not hold the same promise that ‘yes we can’ did. A group of Republicans half-heartedly booed as everyone else was glued to the victory speech.

The day before the election, I had been chatting to an American couple who were sharing a beer outside the bar. She and her husband joked that it didn’t much matter who got elected. ‘It’s the Supreme Court I’m worried about,’ she said, ‘there’s a good chance two of the members will die in the next four years and whoever wins the election appoints new ones’. The Supreme Court has nine

‘It’s the Supreme Court I’m worried about,’ she said, ‘there’s a good chance two of the members will die in the next four years and whoever wins the election appoints new ones

members, in the simplest terms four are liberal, four are conservative and one is a conservative who occasionally sides with the liberals. This last member often calls which way the 5-4 split will fall. My American friends felt that the constitutional right to abortion, established by the famous Roe v. Wade case, could be threatened by a Romney victory, as a pro-choice member is likely to be replaced. This would mean states setting their own abortion laws, with some undoubtedly opting to enact a complete ban.

Obama’s victory means that this won’t now happen, but the extent to which this election was influenced by moral issues is surprising. In Britain, MPs are increasingly given a free vote on moral issues. It feels like America is heading in the other direction, with increasing politicisation them since Roe v. Wade. Opinions on abortion and gay marriage are held strongly, and defended vigorously, and the battles fought over them have inevitably affected the outcome of the election. Two

In Britain, MPs are increasingly given a free vote on moral issues. It feels like America is heading in the other direction

Republicans aiming for seats in the Senate were brought down by their comments on abortion. Todd Akin fundamentally misunderstood biology when he talked about the body shutting down in cases of ‘legitimate rape’, and Richard Mourdock implied that abortion was unacceptable because, horrible as rape might be, God must have intended the victim to be pregnant. This is not the mainstream Republican view, but it has cost seats in the Senate and damaged the image of the party.

Obama needs to build bridges with the Republicans; the Democrat Senate majority is not big enough to stop filibusters, and the house remains under GOP control

But it is not just moral issues that are the cause of the bitter divisions in contemporary American politics. Republicans and Democrats at the national level seem incapable of understanding one another’s point of view, let alone forging the kind of compromises that are required for effective government. In Britain, we are still getting used to life under a coalition, but, so far, it has functioned. In the United States, a uniting of parties is unthinkable.

And yet the elephant and the donkey have much to gain from working together, even though consensus seems to be so difficult to achieve. The Republicans face a demographic collapse over the next decade as many of their supporters are subject to what can only be politely called natural wastage. They need to broaden their appeal if they are to win back moderates, women, ethnic

And yet the elephant and the donkey have much to gain from working together, even though consensus seems to be so difficult to achieve

minorities and the young. A rejection of the aggressively partisan politics represented by the Tea Party movement would be a good start. Those on the right are unlikely to abandon a more moderate Republican presidential candidate because there would not be a more attractive alternative.

Obama needs to build bridges with the Republicans; the Democrat Senate majority is not big enough to stop filibusters, and the house remains under GOP control. More importantly, the national vote only gave Obama a paper thin mandate. To really represent the interests of the US people, he has to factor in that half of the voting population did not want to see his policies enacted.

In the few tired and exciting days that I have spent here, America has proven itself to be split in two. Now that the battle for the presidency has abated for ‘four more years’, this vast country, so variable in geography, wealth and mentality, needs its politicians to forge the compromises that will cater for all of its people, from the hard-line Republicans to the hard-working hookers of San Francisco.