CAMBRIDGE, England -- While the world looks on, tens of millions Americans will go to the polls next Tuesday, along with millions of American expatriates, for what is being billed as the election of the century, or at least the most important election in our lifetime. And while non-Americans cannot directly participate, they will be affected by the result.
In fact, non-Americans have already had a substantial impact on how Americans think about their role in the world. Recent CNN debates with expats and Europeans have differentiated between anti-Americanism in general and the unpopular policies of the Bush administration in particular.
Both Democrats and Republicans living abroad have mobilized in vast numbers on both sides of the policy divide. If something is amiss in U.S. foreign policy, Americans living abroad are the first to feel and react to it, along with foreign officials who privately recoil at the prospect of another four years of President George W. Bush.