Clarissa's Blog

In class, we are talking about Spain’s political parties.

“I don’t get this,” a student exclaims. “Why are you saying that Partido Popular is a conservative party located to the right of the political spectrum if it supports all these social programs?”

So I had to explain that political Left and Right have different meaning in different countries and that President Obama is located to the right of Spain’s major conservative party.

Then I told the students that the other major political party in Spain is the Socialist Party.

“What is Socialism?” I asked.

“It’s like what Obama is!” several students responded in unison.

So I had to explain that Spanish Socialism has nothing whatsoever to do with Obama.

Then I moved to the Communist Party of Spain.

“What is Communism?” I asked.

There was a pause and then one student suggested in a small voice, “It’s like what Obama is?”

I think now everybody is completely confused.