I'm not sure I deserve to be called churlish, since I was neither vulgar nor particularly difficult with that comment. And my comment was actually intended more as a good-natured tweaking of something I think you would agree with me on, vis a vis your own nation.
I do, however, find it bit ironic that nations with their own history of racial or ethnic strife are acting as if the U.S. was somehow uniquely in need of absolution in this area.
Hardly. I'm applauding the American democratic process and the will of the American people. I think it sets an excellent example to countries with similar or worse histories (such as Australia) and who have issues with assimilating disenfranchised ethnic minorities (such as France). Its one thing to talk abut these things (the new Australian parliament's first act was to apologise to the "stolen generation" of Australian Aborigines) and another to provide the sort of opportunities the US has done to allow someone like Obama to become the leader of your coountry.
I've said here before that I've always had enormous respect for the United States, although I've often disagreed with many of its government's actions. This election, to me, vindicates America's claim to be a land of opportunity in a way which can't be disputed or matched.
