[CS-FSLUG] PD: Polish impressions of Obama

[Jon Glass]

Just wanted to share a conversation I had with a fellow here in Krakow
yesterday--and yes, Krakow, Poland.

I was leaving church yesterday, and the man who runs the parking lot
where I park came out and asked me who I was voting for--if it was OK,
to ask. I told him, and he told me that he would have voted for
McCain. Then, he told me something unexpected. Remember, Poland was
once a communist country. This man grew up under communism, and knows
it, feels it, and worse, knows its negative effects. We have talked in
the past about how life was for him under communism. I have to add,
he's no religious man, nor is he some political ideologue. He is just
a man struggling to feed his family, and keep himself alive. One other
bit. He watches a _lot_ of news. He has satellite or cable TV both at
home and in his parking attendant's booth. He is rather informed,
although he spends most of his time watching "daytime TV" and fishing
shows (he loves, loves, loves fishing). But, as far as Poles go, he is
as informed as any Pole is via TV and newspapers. Here is what he told
me next. At first, he liked Obama, but as time wore on, he came to
realize that Obama sounded just like his communist leaders of the
past. Literally, here is what he said. "Just like under communism, if
you wanted to know the truth, you had to listen to them or read them
in the papers, and understand what they said exactly oppositely."
Basically, whatever they said, you knew to be false, and that most
likely, they meant the exact opposite. He believes that Obama is the
exact same way. He's been watching him since the beginning of the
campaign. I remember talking with him during the primaries, and he was
for Obama over Clinton--at first. I don't remember when he started
changing, but I know that sometime during the primaries, he began to
change his opinion. Now I know why.

Now, to twist the knife a bit. Here in Poland, you have people for
Obama, and for Bush, etc. It divided up almost perfectly into young
people and those who have lived through communism. If you talk to the
young people, they have no tangible reason why they like him--they
just do. On the other hand, are people who have experienced an awful
lot--and I mean an awful lot. Almost to a person, these people have no
trust for Obama. And almost to a person, their sentiments repeat my
parking attendant friend.... They don't normally put it so bluntly as
he did, but there is a vague sense of distrust--typically calling to
mind negative impressions or memories from under communism. To broaden
this up a bit. I saw something in a Polish paper the other day, that
showed some poll, that showed a disparity between western Europe, and
the post-communist countries. Obama led in the west, and maybe the
east, but in the eastern countries, there was a much stronger distrust
of Obama--very strong.

I'll leave the conclusions to the reader--but just some food for
thought for those who have voted for Obama.

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass at usa.net>

"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus