Ambassadors & Politics

A few nights ago I had the pleasure of spending three hours with the US Ambassador to Moldova, Michael Kirby. This was the second time we met, though this time we were able to chat for longer at a bar in Ceadir-Lunga with our PC Director, Jeff, and PCVs Bryan, Amy, Josh, and myself.

Turns out he’s a political junky like me, so we spent most of the first half of our 3 hours together talking about the election returns from America. He was a little more up-to-date than the rest of us (It’s good to be the king…) and told us that Mark Allen (R) of Virginia had, in fact, conceded the Senate race there and that Donald Rumsfeld, long a lightning-rod for the administration, had finally stepped down. As I write this, I know that both the House and Senate are not controlled by the Dems, but at the time of our meeting it was still unclear and fun to speculate.

[As a side-note, I should mention that I’m thrilled the Dems took over Congress for two reasons. First, it means that there’s a better chance my country will start moving in the right direction. Second, it means I was not responsible for keeping the Senate in Republican hands. You see, I requested an absentee ballot from my home state of NJ. It arrived a bit late. The Peace Corps office here in Moldova offered to collect all absentee ballots and overnight them to the PCHQ in DC, and from there they would be mailed to PCVs’ respective states. Unfortunately, I live 3.5 hours south of the capital and wasn’t heading in until the day after they were to be collected. I tried to find others who were going, but couldn’t. So I didn’t vote. The race between Bob Menendez and Tom Kean, Jr. in NJ was one place that the Republicans really felt they could make a last-minute surge, and if my one vote turned out to be the deciding factor in that race, and thereby the majority of the Senate – well, let’s just say it would have been a very bad day. So special thanks to all those voters in the great state of New Jersey who cast their ballots and rendered mine unnecessary. And yes, I know, it’s terrible that I didn’t vote. Cut me some slack – first time I’ve ever missed an opportunity to do so and I think my present situation qualifies as somewhat “extenuating circumstances.”]

All this sets up a very interesting 2008 presidential race 2008. Some points made by James Carville in a recent Newsweek interview:
-This is the first time since 1952 that neither a vice-president nor an incumbant president will run
-This is the first time since 1940 that we don’t know who the Republican nominee will be.

But getting back to Ambassador Kirby… The thing I liked about the meeting was speaking (at length and in a small group) with someone who has spent most of his life overseas – even before becoming a FSO – and getting his take on the events in Moldova and the world. One of the biggest difficulties in this work is to remove our American biases and world-view and truly see a situation through the eyes of a host-country national. Essentially, it’s like trying to have an out-of-body (or out of your mind?) experience. I think by living so long overseas, you in a sense lose some of your “American-ness” and are more easily able to see from another perspective. And if you can do that, then you’re much better equipped to overcome the obstacles that present themselves in the field of international development.

Ps – Favorite quote of the evening: A diplomat is someone who can tell people to go to Hell in such a way that they enjoy the trip.