From Rob Rykowski

This election means that I might be able to proudly state that I am American when abroad. I travel a lot. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to travel outside the United States until 2003, after much of the world had already begun to view Bush and, moreover, America, in an unfavorable light. I remember being in Ireland and overhearing a tourist ahead of me say that he was American, and the vendor saying “right lot of idiots you guys are, eh?” needless to say, I was “Canadian” as I backpacked through Europe. I grew up being taught that America was the best country on earth. The second I stepped beyond her borders, the rest of the world was quick to tell me I was wrong. They were in fact quick to exclaim the exact opposite of what I was taught. This election shows those very naysayers that they were wrong. This election tells them that America is in fact a place where you can be who and what you want to be, and that we, too, are tired of the havoc wreaked upon the world by George W. Bush. This election tells the international community that America’s true strength is in our people, not our military. We are a people unlike any other, and have elected a man to office who would stand little chance at the head of any other first world nation.
It is too early to say with certainty how Barack Obama will lead this nation. I can only hope, and do indeed have faith, that we will return to a focus on public diplomacy better practiced during the Clinton years than the last eight. I hope that this election means we will regain some of our bent civil liberties. But most of all, I hope and believe that this election is just the beginning. This election marks a turning point in America and the world at large, and the next time I am abroad, I will proudly say that I – am – American.