Siftings
The American Elections 2008
It's a tight race in the US presidential elections, with Democrat Barack Obama surging ahead in the polls with only a slight edge over his Republican rival, John McCain. Obama has the expected support of minority and colored groups, and the conspicuous endorsement of Hollywood celebrities. If he wins, he will be the first colored president of the world's No.1 Superpower. Aside from that, he is also one of the youngest and most charismatic, with a young attractive wife and two pretty little girls to complete the wholesome picture of an immigrant family attaining economic success and solid community acceptance. This kind of image suggests total immersion in the American Ethic of Success through Hard Work, Industry, Integrity, Decency, Moral Courage, Perseverance and the other virtues that have traditionally sustained Human Life on earth. And one remembers that Obama belongs to a Party which is traditionally the liberal champion of the working class in American politics as opposed to the Big Business conservatism and war-mongering tendencies of the Republican Party.
On the flipside of the coin is John McCain's lesser charisma, with only age and experience and an almost cartoonish Sarah Palin as veep candidate by his side, his white hair and skin proclaiming his WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) ancestry, his accent reverberating back through the centuries to remind the world that Freedom, Justice, Democracy, Brotherhood, etc., are the timeless legacy of the Mayflower pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century to escape religious freedom and founded a colony with righteous human freedoms as its base. It has since evolved into the world's melting pot of immigrant races seeking the Land of Opportunity, the Champion of Freedom and Justice making the world free for Democracy, the world's no.1 nuclear superpower out to crush terrorism: Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, from where the voices of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Fraklin, etc., ring across the seas and plains and mountains of the world to strengthen our hearts and fill us with glory, along with the varied voices of Martin Luther King, John Glenn, Stephen Hawking, Truman Capote, Clark Gable, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Madonna, TomKat and Brangelina, ad infinitum – the wise, the brave, the dedicated, the celebrities of the screen and music worlds whose words or ideas or antics lighten and brighten up our skies, literally and metaphorically, with wonder, humor, satire, wit and irony, and more. And counting.
Whoever wins will inherit a humongous load of burdens too well-known by now to merit a litany here. But these hardly faze the candidates who want a chance at steering the world's greatest Ship of State through clear, calm, murky or stormy waters. Grappling with these giant tasks requires Herculean strength, Quixotic vision, Rabelaisian humor and the in-your-face daring individualism of Ayn Rand hero (of Fountainhead) Howard Roark: a tremendous store of intellect, strength, courage, compassion, patience, perseverance and vision. Most of all, vision.
From glimpses of voting polls clips, it looks like elections over there are reassuringly peaceful, orderly, disciplined. Eons away from our local and national elections which become venues for, ironically, Hollywood action-movie type violence.
The clips across the North American continent further show that that this giant nation of diverse races, cultures, religious and political persuasions indeed has political maturity. Despite sporadic and sensational scenarios of violence that hug headlines at times.
When oh when can we as a nation attain this kind of political maturity across our poor island nation? Alas, never, given the poverty, ignorance, unemployment, and diaspora of brains and talents of our working classes and graduates that we have not been able to keep within our borders to insure that our nation will survive? We are bogged down in a decades-old insurgency that has outlasted its validity and lost its place in our people's consciousness; we are swamped by tidal waves of graft and corruption rearing their heads in financial scams generated by officials in the highest echelons of government – executive, legislative, judiciary, military. And we are barely surviving with an economy crippled and saddled by the burdens of deception and the monumental lies unable to see the light of day, seemingly imprisoned in the gagged mouths of underlings and cronies who, as patsies of bigwigs involved in megabucks deals, cannot and will not tell the truth at Senate committee investigations, for fear of their lives and those of their loved ones. We bring to mind Romulo Neri and now Jocjoc Bolante, an Ilonggo no less.
Where oh where can Truth and Justice and Moral Indignation be served in this land of OFWs, DHs and double citizenship Fil-Americans who hope to benefit somehow from this November elections in the US? Meanwhile, over there, a historic battle at the polls is being waged. We calmly await the outcome: will history be made? In any case, Pinoys will win. According to a text joke: America is on the verge of electing a Pinoy President: a Batangueño – BarakO Bama. Or a Pampangueño - John McCaini (Mekeni). Ale eh, Mekeni abe!---And the new President of the USA is – Barack Obama! Yeheyy!