Unlikely Obama Supporters: Pre-election Experiences in China

Unlikely Obama Supporters: Pre-election Experiences in China
Jan 21, 2009 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

Today, as Barack Obama is sworn in to be the 44th president of the United States, I’m thinking not about Lincoln, Iraq and Afghanistan, or even about the dogs the Obama girls are going to get, I’m thinking about the two men who ran a Xinjiang restaurant down the street from my house.

The restaurant closed a couple weeks ago, one day the green and yellow sign with Chinese and Uighur characters was propped vertical against the façade and greasy tables were being dragged out onto the street. There was a baby that one of their headscarfed wives was always sitting with on a very small wooden stool outside the restaurant, even when it was very late and cold. I hope the restaurant closed somehow on a positive note and they’re not beating a retreat back west with their tales between their legs. I feel guilty for not eating their more often.


A Muslim restaurant

I think about them because in my mind they’ve become coupled with Obama. Not because I think all three of them are Muslims - it’s pretty clear to me that Obama is not – but because one night my girlfriend and I talked with them about the upcoming election and that conversation deeply impressed upon me the importance of American leadership and the impact Obama has made on a world nervous and distrustful of America’s intentions.

We’d just returned from Thailand, where we’d spent the October holiday. After a warm couple of days in colorful Thailand eating vegetarian food prepared for the Jae festival, we weren’t too happy about returning to find Beijing cold and a sharp rain falling. As the house was without food we went to the Muslim restaurant to eat.


Xinjiang food

The two men that work there were watching the always on TV. After a bit they asked us where we were from.

“America,” I find it hard to say this without a bit of sheepish trepidation.
“Oh, America is very good,” the shorter one supplied.
“Mmmmm, China is also very good,” I answered back.
They laughed and gestured at the Coke cans on the tables, the advert playing for KFC on the ever present TV, “Everything we have is from America,” they said.
“But it’s all made in China,” I countered.

It was all going as it usually does – the usual dialogue familiar to all expats – until we started talking about the American election. The one with shorter bushier hair and less visible worries spoke about how McCain was a soldier, how Obama is so young, and asked if it bothered us that he’s black.


The Obama family

I was starting to worry that McCain might have two supporters in Beijing, in case he was interested in taking a real long drive on the Straight Talk Express. But soon bushy hair and the other guy, tall with floppy long hair and what looked like Vaseline smeared on a black eye, broke loose.

 

 

 

Both men are from Xinjiang province, one of China’s more disputed regions; a place allegedly up to it’s waist in oil and a separatist movement that has occasionally set off bombs in Beijing and other parts of China. The region borders Afghanistan and the Uighurs barely seem Chinese. Their hair often curls, noses beak, and their ‘dialect’ is closer to the Kazakh language than it is Mandarin. But while Uyghurs have had problems with China, they’ve also had problems with the US: most of the 20 Uyghur activists rounded up after 9/11 are still in Guantanamo despite being classifieds as non-combatants for 4 years now.


Election coverage in the Chinese Media

It turned out these guys worry about Afghanistan, worry about further war in the Middle East. They worry that since McCain was a soldier he will seek a military solution for every problem. Floppy hair illustrated this last point by waving pistol fingers in the air and calling out “Russia! Shoot! Iran! Shoot! Afghanistan! Shoot.” They worried about McCain's age and temperament.

Obama, on the other hand garnered high praise. These two Uyghur in a late night greasy Muslim restaurant spoke of his patience and calm, they pointed out that he does have some experience but more important than that he is promising change. And I know what you're thinking but you're wrong, they knew he was a Christian and weren't bothered in the least by it.


Obama’s half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo, who lives in Shenzhen

They were astonished McCain would ‘suspend’ his campaign to ‘steer’ the bailout efforts and then the kicker: the bushy haired sidekick, by now seated at another table, looking like the millions of other migrant workers who come to Beijing for the promise of 500 yuan a month, turned our way and with evident self-conscious satisfaction told us Obama had risen to a 9 point lead over McCain, 49-40.

This incident made me feel much better about voting for a candidate that I have a lot of issues with. Talking with these two men in their Muslim restaurant, hundreds of miles from their homes and thousands from ours, made me realize the extent our actions as Americans affect the rest of the world. I hope Obama governs with this in mind and that my fellow Americans don’t forget this either. I also hope that somewhere in a newly opened Muslim restaurant, two men are busily fielding orders but still getting enough time to catch the inauguration as it plays on the always on TV.


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