Election Hangover: Brazilian-style

I imagine that would be with a caipirinha...

Living abroad I do get the pleasure of missing out on the endless barrage of election season attack-ads, unsolicited dinner-hour phone calls, and earnest neighborhood canvassers.  (I don't get to avoid the self-annointed politicos that seem to exponentially multiply all over my Facebook newsfeed by October.) This is the second time (and country) I have been outside of the US during a Presidential election and I still find the fascination leading up to and the discussion after, well...fascinating.

Four years ago in Cali, Colombia, Obama's
election was front page news for the city's
and country's newspapers!

Being three hours ahead of EST, I went to bed with only a small handful of States calling.  In the morning - according to Facebook newsfeed timestamps, it seems many did not go to bed - only Florida and Alaska remained and the numbers spoke for themselves.  Gobama!*

At school my first encounter with the "day after" were the Brazilian high school seniors who have there lockers located right outside my classroom.  Little do they seem to realize that tinted glass is only vision-proof and I am privy to every 7:45am opinion - drunken weekend updates, who the "bastard teachers" are, and latest YouTube sensations as well - that goes down as I casually set up the lab activity for the day.

The best thing about high school seniors is that they know everything.  They also speak with dogmatic conviction, provide no evidence for anything, and think they're the oppressed ones.  Some choice lines from this morning, from both sides of the aisle:

"You know that Obama only won because he's black and white people feel guilty about it."

"Romney, like, ran companies and so he knows stuff about money.  Americans obviously want to be poor 'cause, like, why the f*** would you not make him President then?"

Brazilian President since
2011, Dilma Rousseff.

Later at lunch some Brazilian colleagues were discussing, in general, how interesting they find the who voting process in the US.  The fact that there are only two main parties is mystifying.  In Brazil the political parties change like a chameleon's colors, and there are usually so many a candidate can win with far less than half the vote.  So, while Americans often yearn for more choices, Brazilian generally would prefer fewer.

Brazil also is no stranger to corruption.  They are envious of the fact that, in the US, a person with any kind of criminal record wouldn't likely be let anywhere near a convention caucus with hopes of throwing their name in the hat to run.  Whether its a good or bad thing to have an ex-convict running the show in a country is a whole other topic, Brazilian politicians often have open ties with some shady pasts.

At the end of the day, however, it seems Brazil would likely be a "blue state."

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit I did not vote.  No reason, just factors.  The main one is that I currently am semi-stateless.  Last election the vote I cast counted for Wisconsin, as that was the last place I was registered to vote in and I still paid some taxes there the year prior.  Now my official address is in Minnesota, however, during the brief period of time I was home over the summer I was more concerned with whether I would have a visa or not that thoughts of November were nowhere to be found.  Plus, absentee ballots are only counted if it is close so...next time - I promise!