RENEE! - AT 6:35 A.M. ET:  Most of your will remember the wonderful Renee Nielsen, who sent us those vivid, exclusive reports from Mumbai during the terrorist attacks there last year.

Renee is now in Riga, Latvia, and we've urged her to continue sending her observations from abroad.  Here is her first.  I know you'll like it:

Just Words – The Experiences of a Frustrated Republican Abroad

For the past seven years I've lived outside the US. Thanks to my husband's company, we've been able to achieve our goal to see the world. Since 2002, we have called Denmark, Panama, India and now Latvia, home. All these countries have fascinating histories, and the experiences we’ve had exploring them has been a privilege.

This has been made even more so by the addition of our two young sons
and the joy of watching them so easily adapt to their new homes. However, trying to set up your life in an unfamiliar culture does come with some down side.   One difficulty I didn’t expect is to suffer, with such frequency, negative opinions from both locals and other expatriates regarding the United States. It is not (always) hostile, a lot just innocent interest on what I think about a particular topic. Many times I’ve found that I’ve been the only American they’ve ever met and--up until this past election--a (gasp) Bush supporting Republican.  !Dios mio! How can it be?

I have become somewhat obsessed with reading and studying US history and current events, to make sure I was ready to respond intelligently on the more common misconceptions.

Over the years silly things were easy to dismiss or clarify - "Bush stole the election" - and even not so silly - "the Iraq war was for oil."   But the frequency of  “typical” critiques on American foreign policy, on which so many foreigners seem to be "experts," has changed and moved into a new direction since Barack Obama has been on the national scene. I’m talking about race.

When Barack Obama won the Democrat nomination for President, we had been living in Mumbai, India, for only a few months. I was the new Republicans Abroad chair, and was struggling to find like-minded people. The Indian news media was also desperately trying to find someone to represent the GOP to interview against the Democrats Abroad representative.

I noticed quickly that the anchors doing the interviews were using the same talking points used by the New York Times and the Washington Post. I was asked if voters would have problems with the cost of Sarah Palin’s wardrobe; I was also asked if she was doing damage to John McCain, especially after her interview with Katie Couric. These things were easy to deflect, if I was only given more than 10 seconds to respond. In September, the racial overtones started, with the polls narrowing between the candidates, and,unfortunately, the Indian media played along, regurgitating the worst in the American media.

One evening just before the election, I watched a segment on NewsX
(broadcast nationally from Delhi) with a panel discussing how, stated as a fact, Barack Obama could never win in the South because of
all the racists who lived there. The anchor just nodded, accepting that
outrageous statement, and the conversation moved on. I, on the other hand, was furiously texting the producer, demanding to get on the air the next day to respond.  

He agreed, and that same anchor asked me, “Are Americans racist for not voting for Obama? “ I replied, "How could Republicans voting for the Republican candidate be considered racist?" I also said that the foreign media misrepresents many Americans as racisst for not voting for Obama, when in fact they're just voting their personal principles.

It was too much. This coming from a country that at that time, was having problems with Hindus burning churches and raping nuns, the continuous problems of discrimination against the “untouchables” (a.k.a. Dalits), and Muslim complaints about being denied housing due to their religion.

My point was not to criticize India, as I was a guest in that country and it would have been inappropriate to comment publicly on something so volatile as these issues, but I was stunned at the hypocrisy of the twisted,
morally superior attitudes toward OUR country, which has done more than many to right our past mistakes.

I "hoped" the foolishness of being called racist would "change" with the
Obama victory. How naïve.

Now in Latvia, and unable to watch or read local news, as none is available in English, I’m forced to tune into CNN International and BBC World. You’ll be happy to know that both have picked up on the accusations of supposed racism by the tea-party and 9/12 protesters, and elevated by our favorite ex-president, Jimmy Carter. These lies will be broadcast worldwide into the homes of expats and locals looking for news in English, helping to feed the generally negative opinions of Republicans and conservatives, and, honestly, Americans, worldwide.

"Audacity" is Barack Obama and Democrats complaining about America’s “tarnished” image abroad, when they themselves do so much to destroy it. We do not live in a bubble. Reckless political rhetoric within the US gets picked up (and cherry picked) by the foreign media, which has its own agenda, and then repeated.

Time will tell if these refreshed racial accusations will move into casual conversations with foreign friends and curious strangers. I’ll continue to defend our country and explain how wrong so many of their perceptions are. Thanks to Democrats and their inability to understand the damage they do with their words, it’ll probably be a never-ending process. On a positive note, some of my friends are now questioning what they read, so I’ll consider that “Mission Accomplished," at least for a few.

A clear-eyed view, not filtered through the politically correct media.  We look forward to Renee's next report.

September 22,  2009