Is America Cool Again ?

Growing up in Scotland, especially during the early 90's we were bombarded by American television and Movies, much as we are now. But then, for me I was very influenced by it.

In Scotland, indeed across the whole of the UK, we are not patriotic in the same sense as Americans are, at least not when you are a teenager. There is nothing "cool" about being 12 of 13 years old and living in Edinburgh even though it is one of the world finest cities.

At that awkward adolescence, I myself was always jealous of what people of a similar age were up to across the pond. Hollywood movies would portray teenagers with their own cars on their way to the prom on a Friday night, while various TV shows would show the lifestyle of a 15 year old as they went surfing at the local Californian beach on a summers day.

This is of course the image of America that is sells to the world and I have to admit, once upon a time, I was sold.

As an adult I now know better, America has more than its fair share of social problems, crime, poverty etc and in fact are far worse off in many ways than we are in Scotland.

Over the last 8 years with Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this negative image of America has been compounded in my mind.

But now something has changed, given the racism and poverty of the US, they have just done what no other nation has, they have elected a black African American to the office of President.
Not only that but Obama seems to be a genuinely nice guy, an amazing orator and genuinely intelligent not to mention the fact that he has experience living abroad.

The whole package seems like the opposite to what we have come to expect from a US President. I sincerely hope that Barack Obama does well as President of the worlds most powerful nation state, it will serve as a fantastic advert for the USA in general.

I have to admit, I am coming around to thinking of the US as being cool again...

Muzzerino