American election spills over borders

Steven Ward

As a Canadian, I’ve followed the American presidential primary campaign in the same way that Canadians view most of the activities of their noisy neighbors: with a bemused yet determined aloofness. I’m interested in the results the same way you would cheer for a character in a movie. And if filmic suspense and drama are what you’re after, the Democratic race is where it’s at.
Just as the daily back and forth of the U.S. campaign is not kept within the confines of the country’s borders, the Democratic Party also spills out, in the form of Democrats Abroad. In Korea, Steven Ward is a nominee for the position of vice-chairman of the group, which has 253 members registered here. Ward was directed onto his current political path in a way that many can sympathize with.
“Bush made me a Democrat,” he said.
Ward’s relationship with Korea began in his home state of Missouri, a state Harry S. Truman, the American president during the Korean War, also called home. “I grew up in Independence, Missouri, Truman’s home-town,” said Ward.
Truman formed bonds with this little peninsula, some of which allowed Korean students to come to the University of Missouri and pay in-state tuition fees. Through a job with the school’s Asian Affairs Center, Ward ended up coming to study at Seoul National University’s school of international studies in 2000 on a graduate student exchange program.
“I used to see myself going into the foreign service and becoming a diplomat,” he said. “Recently I lost that passion, especially with the Iraq War.”
After his stint here, Ward found himself back in the American Midwest. “I was bored living in Missouri after Seoul, so I came back,” he said. “I looked for jobs teaching English, but I was always turned off by the shady job offers that I’d get. I would post my resume somewhere and the next day I’d have 20 job offers. Not inquiries, not interview requests, actual offers.”
He now works as a writer and editor at Winglish.com. In listening to Ward’s description of what Democrats Abroad do in Korea, I thought he may have given up on the diplomatic field too soon. “It’s all about getting people involved. Our whole purpose in trying to kick-start Democrats Abroad for this election cycle is that we want people to know that they can vote. It doesn’t matter whether they’re Republican or Democrat. We actually hope to have joint events.”
Yes, despite the common conception that U.S. Republicans tend to stick to their home turf, that party also has a group that operates overseas — the aptly named Republicans Abroad.
Members of the military are usually members. “You also get expats who are transferred here from their big, cushy corporate jobs,” said Ward. “They’re usually more upper-class, right wing.”
The big question I had for Ward was the same one hanging on the lips of anyone even remotely familiar with American politics: Hillary or Barack?
“Personally I’m a Barack supporter. I think he’s a pretty exciting candidate. He’s something we haven’t seen in quite a while.”
He added that he believes “both Hillary and Barack would do an excellent job as president.”
For him, it’s more important who doesn’t win.
“If anything else, the Republicans have to be punished for what they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve got us messed up in this quagmire [the Iraq War], and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I was never in support of the Iraq War but what’s that Colin Powell quote? ‘You break it, you bought it,’” said Ward.
Ward would like Americans to know that they can register to vote at VoteFromAbroad.org.
Canadians, on the other hand, will just have to wait and see what happens.

By Richard Scott-Ashe Contributing Reporter [richard@joongang.co.kr]