Manila, day three:
Went to to the local USAID office for our inbrief. Understand that when you visit an AID office, there are pictures of the President and Vice President on the wall as you come in... sometimes the Secretary of State too, but always those two. So, for the last eight years, I've been accustomed to walking in under the wide grin of George W. Bush and the funny sideways smile of Vice President Cheney.
Well: there was a picture on the wall by the front door. But it wasn't George W. Bush any more.
I said, "I think I'm having a moment," and pointed. My colleagues looked and everyone fell silent for a couple of seconds. Then... well, expats are not a core constituency for the GOP, you know? A smile went around: "Hey, look at that." "Whoa." "All right."
High point of the morning.
Haha. I still get like that whenever I read the words "President Obama."
At least my post election snicker has gone away.
Posted by: Luke | February 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I still am taken aback when I hear the words "President Obama". Like it.
Posted by: Natalie | February 11, 2009 at 06:24 AM
I have returned to normalcy very quickly, to my surprise.
I must clarify. Normalcy means early election day, November 7th, 2000, before the vote count went awry.
Perhaps one could push "normalcy" to September 10, 2001.
We are now back to normal. And it is amazing how quickly my relief at that passes. Sort of like when the car rolls /off/ your foot. Absolute bliss, quickly dissipated.
Then again, I'm reading more about the sausage-side of legislation-making more than anyone should at the moment. YMMV.
Doug, do I need to start a "Doug in Manila" series at TPTM?
Posted by: Noel Maurer | February 12, 2009 at 07:56 PM
Friend of mine is the #2 in a posting that has two Americans. She relates that on inauguration day, her boss took down the Cheney portrait the moment Biden had finished his oath.
Posted by: Doug (not Muir) | February 17, 2009 at 12:04 PM