How others see us

When I was in London a couple of weeks ago, I was out for an early dinner and asked the people seated next to me what the going rate for tips was (as it turns out, it was already included in the check). Upon hearing my American accent, they quite naturally wanted to talk about the U.S. presidential election (as if I really know who's going to win, especially since I don't even know who's going to win the Democratic nomination, but I digress). When I mentioned that I thought there was at least a fairly decent chance that it might be Obama, the woman seated next to me said, in all seriousness, "but surely someone will kill him if he's elected, won't they?" Granted, one person's opinion doesn't represent a nation's or continent's collective view, but I can't help but think that this is not an uncommon view: that surely the U.S. would never elect a black man (not necessarily an unreasonable opinion based on history), and if we did, surely there are bad people who simply wouldn't stand for it and would take matters into their own hands. I was honestly a bit flabbergasted and tried to explain that I really thought that we had come along since the 1960s (which I do believe, even if I know there are a lot of people who aren't ready for a black president). But when I mentioned that, if anything, there was probably a greater risk of something happening because of the abject hatred that some people have for Hillary (and I don't mean just those who dislike her or would never vote for her, of which there are many--I'm talking about the lunatic fringe that absolutely and passionately detests the Clintons with every fiber of their being), she and her tablemates were equally flabbergasted because they had no idea that such a phenomenon existed. Two countries divided by a common language, I suppose...