I've told this anecdote a few times, but it suddenly feels very real to me today.

It's late November 2008. I'm in Addis Ababa just a few weeks after a man of African descent was elected president of the United States. People were jubilant. 1/

Street vendors were even hawking bootleg DVDs of his DNC acceptance speech. I own an Amharic copy of "Dreams of My Father" (I'm told the title was changed to: "Secrets of Greatness and Change," to suggest it's a self-help book) /2

Everyone was delighted to talk about Obama. I asked one young woman, a university student, about her thoughts. But instead, she brought up John McCain. "What we need in Africa are more John McCains. People who will lose an election and not start a war." 3/

I used to think about that quote in the context of African politics. But today, in the US, our democracy is being challenged in a way that would wreck countries with weaker institutions. I just hope our institutions are strong enough to withstand this onslaught. /end