Impressions from Nigeria

This is a comment from my friend Chris Schunk who is currently working in Nigeria:

I never post notes but I'm making an exception because I need to share what I've seen in Nigeria in the two days since Obama's victory. Not a surprise that people here are ecstatic about it, but people in the U.S. might not grasp just how dramatic the change of attitude about the U.S. and its citizens has been. At a meeting this morning the man I met with couldn't stop talking about Obama and how thrilled he was. All he kept saying was "I love America!" He sounded like Eddy Murphy in "Coming to America." Then tonight we went out with some friends and a Nigerian guy had an American flag that he kept waving in the air on the dance floor and the band dedicated a song to Obama. To anyone that's lived or traveled abroad during the Bush years, you know how implausible that was even up to a week ago. Of course now comes the hard part, governing, but I am completely blown away by the effect of Obama's victory on the U.S. image abroad. All of the sudden you don't need to apologize for being (or in my case growing up in the States) an American. The only analogy I can think of is the U.S. image after WWII. Maybe this wouldn't of been possible had we not had to endure 8 years of suffering under Bush. In a weird way that almost makes all the tragedy of the Bush years worth it (except if you're an Iraqi civilian). Maybe every cloud really does have a silver lining...