Disclaimer: Apparently my brain is a bit confused and my english is slipping. I really don't use english writing at all anymore, and almost my entire day is in spanish, so pardon my lack of coherent phrases and/or spanish grammar.

Tonight I had the opportunity to show, or at least try to illustrate, my host parents American politics. To contextualize, the past few nights have been filled with questions about Argentine politics, Peron, Eva, Kirsher, Menem, and the social implications (most of which were in the form of movements against the government) of their presidencies. Some very heated debates have emerged as a result of these conversations (especially last night at a three-generation family dinner). Don't get me wrong, they have been quite interesting, especially because my family has a very distinct perspective from that being offered in the university here. However, the most salient fact that has come out of all these discussions is not a condemnation of Argentine politics nor the presidents that have come before. More so, a general frustration, an inability to change things, seems to permeate the discourse of everyone I talk to. It's very sublte and implicit, but after showing my family Youtube videos tonight, it appears clear as day to me.

I sat Nati and Fede down tonight and showed them the videos I had told them about a few nights before about Sarah Palin and the SNL skits that Tina Fey did. Of course, with no background knowledge that provoked the Katie K. interview and a few other clips. That turned into Obama's speeches and finally his DNC address in 2004. After it was over, (and I had chills, as always) I asked them what they thought. They agreed with what he was saying and agreed that he was a good orator, but both said that they'd never trust someone like that. Someone with obvious intellect that had a way with words -- they'd be interested, sure, in how his policies panned out in the following years, but they'd never volunteer time or money for a political candidate. Ever. They couldn't imagine a time in which they would either.

The conversation that followed illustrated perfectly the difference between politics in the U.S. and elsewhere. Where the Argentine population can rise up against an idea/government, ours rose up in support of an abstract idea, because we believed that with the right person, it actually could be implemented. That concept completely escaped them. A fundamental belief in the system, something I myself doubted before this election, competley is lacking here. For them, government and politics will always be the same. Presidents are just new faces driving the machine. It's sort of hard to put into words the political/social frustration (that seems to have just turned into a self-perpetuating apathy) but the realization today, was, as we say "muy chocante".

That's all for now.