today at the Indian embassy in Bangkok, i met this desperate US guy that was short on 2200 bahts (~$67) to get his visa for India, so i lent him the money. then followed a nice conversation, and after chatting about the elections, i said: “you know what would make me more happy than you paying me back, is if you would donate the money to Obama” (note: non-US citizens cannot officialy donate for US campaigns). the guy took a few secs to think, then said he didn’t think Obama needed more money, but that he would do it if i wanted it.

i don’t know all that much about Obama and his program, but for me a major strength is that “[he] knows what it means not to be an American”.

Update from the NYT (June 11th 08):

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats’ nomination of Obama as their candidate for president has done more to improve America’s image abroad — an image dented by the Iraq war, President Bush’s invocation of a post-9/11 “crusade,” Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the xenophobic opposition to Dubai Ports World managing U.S. harbors — than the entire Bush public diplomacy effort for seven years.”