OhMyNews translated and printed that article I wrote here just a few posts ago, although the title was changed: "I Didn't Vote for Obama Just Because I'm Black." Interesting. The overall reaction in the comments section was quite good. There was a comment or three about how the US was still responsible for splitting the peninsula, how the US had hurt Korea, but surprisingly little criticism along the lines of the historical hair-splitting that marked the non-Korean reaction to the original English version of that post. Interestingly, any negative reactions on the Korean side mostly had to do with America's role in Korean history.
Most comments, however, were expressions of agreement with the sentiments contained therein, as well as a significant amount of envy for the president we are about to have. I think that a lot of that comes from not only the dissatisfaction with the present president Lee Myung Bak, but the signficant letdown he is compared to the extreme optimism that came with Noh Moo Hyun. Many people I know personally expressed that they had cried in relief and disbelief when he was elected, and the world came to see Korea's democracy as one that worked. 5 years later, and public faith in him had nearly vanished.
Deja vu? A bit. But I think, quite frankly, Obama is far more prepared and intelligent than Noh was, and most importantly, politically savvy. No matter what you think of him, one must admit that his campaign set a new standard for planning, organization, and implementation. And having bested first Hillary and then McCain, and not by playing the traditional political game, but by changing the very rules themselves, I think he's DONE a lot more than people give him credit for. Not saying that this guarantees anything, but if he runs the country like he ran his campaign, that's pretty darn encouraging.
