The Circus is in Town

It's the campaign season again for the Philippines and you can be sure that the great circus is in town. With a plethora of candidates coming from the local film industry to a bunch of bureaucrats who do not know what they are doing -the campaign period is full of excitement, smear tactics, bad theme songs, and lots of wasted tree trunks. Mix that with a little disappointment from those who knows where this is going and you got a carnival or maybe a fine brew of corruption and pretentiousness.

Corruption, we do not need to elaborate on that. Pretentiousness, well well, the Philippines, a third world country just got an automated voting system from Venezuela. There are so many things that the Philippines cannot afford and automating the elections is one of these things. Talk about being very pretentious. If you've been following the news during Macapagal-Arroyo's first term, the Philippines sent troops to Iraq to help its former lord, the US. The money should have been spent on something that will sustain the country's economy or maybe even fund the already low budget for education in the said country.

This air of pretentiousness can be traced back to the Spanish who ruled the country for over 300 years. It can be seen during both countries' fiestas or festivals -families have to borrow money just to be able to serve food on their table during these celebrations. No one is saying that celebrating is bad but Filipinos should be mindful of the economic situation before spending so much on unimportant things.

The Filipino middle class is intelligent but the rest vote for those who are popular. In fact, through my interaction with Filipinos, they feel that no one is going to get out of this kind of system. Filipinos actually flourish in other parts of the globe but if left in a country like this with a rotten system patterned on the American model (which is inappropriate for the Philippines) only the smart and practical can actually rise above poverty.

Photo Courtesy of PinoyXpression.com

Obamarama

President Barack Obama would not have won the elections if he were white. He is charming and rarely wants to lose in a debate. Although being charming is great trait for an American President, Obama just talks. To put it bluntly, he talks the talk but does not walk the walk.

During the Presidential elections in the US, the whole world was watching. America was so under pressure that if a black candidate did not win, the US would be considered racist. Even if this is not discussed in many fora and news agencies, this somehow affected the American vote.

Today, now that we've seen how Obama operate, George W. Bush now looks more like a hero rather than the inarticulate US President who called the Italian PM "Amigo". Bush, Jr. might not have been the greatest orator but if he knows a certain policy is right, he will implement it without much mumbo jumbo.

Obama said in an interview that it is better for him to be a good one-term President rather than a mediocre two-term President. The question is, how does a mediocre one-term President sound like? Obama should be prepared for more criticism that will attack him left and right, not only from the Republicans but from his very own party as well.

The healthcare issue, one of the hottest topics in the US today is a repeat of Hillary Clinton's healthcare fight only bloodier. This puts Obama in a rather precarious position not only in terms of popularity but his credibility as President of the United States.