Running Away from Bush

I don't know why I was suprised that this question was one of the first that came up in class today as soon as I opened the discussion to my students. Pavel, mid thirties and Fillip, coworkers installing wifi antennas around their town, broached the subject.
'All we talked about last class with Dan was the Iraq war'. they told me.
They asked in particular about the upcoming Presidential elections. They asked about why the Clinton scandal was such a big deal in the USA. They asked about the differences between Republicans and Democrats.
Earlier this weekend, sitting at a sports pub with Dan, our first few moments alone...he remarked
'It seems like you really don't like your country..why? Why don't you want to go back?'
'I don't know. I just don't.' I mumbled.
But the probing questions from my students made me feel ill. 'Running away from George Bush?'
And I realize, in a way..yes I am running away from George Bush. After swallowing indie media reports like no tomorrow for the entirety of 2006 and half of 2007..I remember the nauseated feeling I had. The hopeless, helpless, suffocating feeling that I could do nothing in my country. That no one in my country could do anything. When I was in Western Europe, this was a much more popular question. Here in, what I've learned is CENTRAL EUROPE, I have managed to escape the probe.
I realized today, in a very minor way, that I cannot escape Bush. I cannot escape politics in my country. I can stop paying attention. I can surround myself with people who aren't directly relating to American politics, who don't vote. But I will inevitably reflect my country in the countries I visit. And they will always ask me about what is happening in America.
Today, I can't handle it. It makes me furious. I envy my Canadian colleague. I envy my Austrailian colleague. I feel hot and heavy and shameful.
Dan says 'the longer you stay away, the harder it is to go home.' I think I know what he means, although I know I have no practical idea. He tells me other things like:
'Culture shock is when you can't stop thinking how stupidly things are done here and how much better they are handled at home'
He also tells me that after a while, 5 or 6 years, I will be able to see redemptive aspects of my homeland. Today, I can't imagine it's the case.I imagine this beginning as forging a distance the will forever grow. People have asked. I have found so many travelers who are running away from something or to something...a failed relationship, lack of work, social stigma in their own countries, the search for a better life. I have had difficulty explaining my motivation. Today I realized that a very large part of me is running away from the political situation in the US. because I feel desperate and helpless and pessimistic that things will only get worse.