Some weeks ago, CNN contacted me to request a piece on how the US Presidential Election resonates in the streets of Athens today. Immediately, a hazy image came to me of a warm afternoon when I was walking with my mother outside the Panathinaikon Stadium, in central Athens. I was seven years old then but I vividly recall her tears the moment she heard a newsboy announce Bobby Kennedy’s death and bought one of his newspapers to confirm the news. While I had no idea who the deceased was, her grief gave me the chilling feel that things would be getting worse for us Greeks. It was, after all, one year into the military dictatorship that marked my childhood. Anyway, that was my first encounter with the very concept of US Presidential Elections. So I chose to begin my CNN piece (which you can read here) with that opening story.
One disclaimer: The title of the piece (Is the US Election keeping Greece in the Euro?) is not mine. My point, on the matter, was that many Greeks are fearful that any move to jettison Greece from the euro will come after the US Presidential Election and, for this reason, they are not keen to see the back of that election. I did not insinuate that Greece will be thrown out of the euro after November.
