Claiming Obama as his own.
My president is in town. There was a time when I couldn't utter those words, even if they were true, but now they instill in me a combination of pride and giddiness.
So when I heard that Brits for Obama had secured a permit to "demonstrate" I dug out my long-hidden American flag and headed into Westminster to see what I could see.
The answer was, not much. Our vantage point, right outside the gates of Downing Street, didn't allow us a close up view of the goings on at the front step, but we did get a glimpse of the president as he walked across the red carpet that had been laid for him and the 19 other heads of state.
If you watch this video, you can get a better view than we had, and hear us shout as he walks past.
Security was tight, but by no means oppressive, despite the far less friendly demonstrations going on in the City. Several times we were forced to clear the path for incoming vehicles, but the outstretched arms of the police who forced us back were firm yet gentle. They chatted with the two children up front with us, including one young Brit who could name all the American presidents.
Outside Downing Street.
I met some interesting people squeezed against the barricades, and we shared our stories. A dog reporter was there, filming a piece on the search for the Obama's dog. A couple of women from Trinidad and Cape Verde were standing next to me, filled with hope and pride in the new American president. As the woman from Trinidad showed me photos of her extended family, many of them living in America, I realized how America is a global concept. The world's citizens all want to claim America as theirs, and our new president as their world leader.
Meanwhile, across town, anarchists and a few other discontents had gathered to break bank windows. But their numbers are telling: in a town that can easily roust up 40,000 to protest the Gaza war, and a million or two to march against war, only two to four thousand showed up, many of them the usual suspects. (One prominent demonstrator has infiltrated Democrats Abroad, and I noticed him front and center whenever a camera came by. If he's typical of today's young anarchist, let's just say the movement isn't attracting the best and brightest.)
A lot of the G-20 coverage is soap opera: who sits where, who's miffed at whom, who's walking out. But amidst the melodrama there are glimmers of hope, such as news that funding for the IMF will be increased.
Frankly, though, it's the melodrama that excites me. As Americans living abroad, we're especially sensitive to world opinion, so it's nice, for once, to see that other world leaders are squabbling over who gets to sit next to our president.
