By Marina Aizen  (photos by David Fernández)

In a bar in San Telmo a group of people are having a beer and bitterly complaining about the economy. They use strong words such as disaster, collapse. But wait a minute. They’re not talking about Argentina. They aren’t Argentines. They’re Americans! What’s going on? Is the jinx on them now? Turn on a news program and you’ll understand. In the United States the real estate crisis is not only corroding the financial markets but also perforating the middle class. The situation is so serious that it has displaced the disastrous Iraq war from the center of the presidential campaign. Thus, when Obama or Hillary is discussed you hear complaints even in Buenos Aires.

Is it beginning to sound more familiar now?

Barack Obama wins the US primary in Argentina

These are not tourists that clap at couples dancing tango; they are Americans that chose to live in Argentina for different reasons. The distance didn’t turn them indifferent to what’s going on in their country and because of that they have self organized to try to make their opinions count in the current political contest. The spark of the movement was a likeable guy that calls himself Yanqui Mike. Two years ago in the last Congressional election he rode around the city in a taxicab trying to find a bar in which he could wait for the results with some compatriots. He didn’t find anyplace so he decided to get in touch with the local branch of the Democratic Party called Democrats Abroad. It didn’t exist in Argentina so he founded it.

Nowadays the Democrats in Argentina are quite a bunch. Among them there’s a bit of everything. Along with Mike, whose real name is Mike Skowronek, there’s also Dick Tihany, an ex classmate of Bill Clinton who says that Clinton is a fool compared to his wife, now senator and candidate. Or Meghan Doran, a young woman who wants to be a delegate to the Denver convention and a representative of the Americans residing in this part of the world. And Alicia Blumencweig, an Argentine that became an American citizen not long ago. All of them voted for different candidates: John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The Democrats here talk with much more cohesion than those who are living in the US. But they are not so different from our own home-grown political specimens in certain behaviors. For example, they wear T-shirts with the name of the candidate; the body can always be a walking billboard. These garments are 20 dollars or 60 pesos, a rounded-down exchange rate that makes them look more favorable (or could it be due to the shortage of small denominated coins here?) If any Argentines want to do something to help put an end to US Republican rule in 2008 they should go and buy them because it’s the only way for them to donate money to the Democrats. No non-US nationals can contribute directly to the pockets of a US political party. It’s forbidden by law.

BUSH, GO HOME

Yanqui Mike says he never perceived any anti-American feelings here but he does find a tremendous rejection of George W. Bush. He also says that when people realize that he is a Democrat he is treated with more friendliness and sympathy. But what is it to be a Democrat? The Democratic Party has a definition as broad as the Peronist Party. The comparison is apt: for example, both parties promote “social justice” but have to figure out how to make it happen while keeping their own left, right and middle-of-the-road constituents happy. It’s true that among the Democrats the “politically correct” attitude prevails more than among Republicans but that doesn’t make it always easy to differentiate one from the other. In general terms, the Republicans like to cut taxes and the Democrats like social programs that spend public money on “causes”: poor people, sick people, elderly people, minorities, etc.

The margin between Hillary and Obama is so narrow that the Democrats in Argentina feel that they can help tip the balance; a good feeling in that they could play a leading role. They voted like other Americans residing abroad last Super Tuesday, February 5th. Outside the US, the candidate of color won and Obama reaped 11 delegates.

But Democrats Abroad Argentina didn’t end with that election. Yanqui Mike dreams of having a delegation in each Argentine province. For now, there’s Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario. Soon will come Ushuaia. “I also want to find yanquis in the Malvinas (Falkland Islands). I want DAA to be represented in all Argentina …and The Malvinas are Argentine”, he maintains.

Of course this dream wouldn’t be possible without Internet and other technological features like a slingbox, a simple gadget that allows them to watch in real time American television in Argentina or anywhere else. And Yanqui Mike doesn’t have to wander around the city anymore to find a bar with the TV showing the electoral returns. He has his own party to go to now. But he immediately make clear that they are not a simply group of progressive friends. “We are not a club; we are part of the US Democratic Party. We are the United States Democratic Party in Argentina. I want you to know that we are a different kind of American abroad. And I want us to integrate with Argentines. Our organization can help in Argentina”, he says. “We are the eyes and ears of the American people outside the country”, says somebody else.

But for now their next task is to register every American walking these lands to vote in the coming November 4th elections. Tihany, Clinton’s college friend, says it doesn’t matter if those they register are Republicans. The motto is: everyone should vote …and make the Republican John McCain lose. Obviously.