 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Obama and Change
By Antonio C. Abaya Written on Nov. 05, 2008 For the Standard Today, At 11:45 am of November 05, based on partial returns from most of the states, CNN projected 89 state electoral votes for John McCain, and 206 for Barack Obama. The BBC has a more updated score card: 135 for McCain, 207 for Obama. With California the only big state still not tabulated in, with its 55 electoral votes conceded to Obama, it looked hopeless for McCain. The CIA had failed to wipe out Osama bin Laden and Ayman al_Zwahiri in Pakistan, in time to save McCain. The white supremacist neo-Nazi skinheads had failed to terminate Obama. The US military had failed to bomb Iran before Nov. 04 and present Obama with a fait accompli from which he would not have been able to walk away. At 12 noon of Nov. 05 (Manila time), CNN projected that Obama has been elected the 44th president of the USA. What an historic day this has been. America has re-invented itself, without a civil war, without a violent and bloody revolution. And the whole world rejoices at this rebirth of "unyielding hope." Obama is a burst of sunshine that pierces an enveloping darkness, a radiant spring that pushes back the gloom of winter. Would that this spirit of renewal will persist and give eminence again to the innate goodness of the American people. Personally, I can now revisit the country where I spent four and a half happy years � from September 1956 to April 1961 - first as a student and then, after graduation, as an industrial chemist. I was back in the US more than 15 times after that for occasional visits. But the last time I visited was in May 2001, for the wedding of my daughter Gina in scenic Carmel in California. As George W. Bush and his neo-con government led the US to war in Iraq, premised on a pack of lies, I vowed to myself that I would never set foot on the US again as long as Bush was president. And I was not alone in my family to make that pledge. My late wife's brother-in-law (my bala-e) Helmut - an American of German descent and a card-carrying member of the Republican Party � also vowed not to return to the land of his birth as long as Bush was in the White House. (At this point, my computer broke down, apparently overwhelmed by the news of Obama's electoral victory, and had to be rushed to the ICU of the computer hospital. Which is the reason why this column failed to appear in print, as scheduled, on Thursday, Nov. 6.) When I resumed writing this piece, I received information that George W. Bush had bought a 98,842-acre (about 40,000 hectares) farm in Acuifero Guarani in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia. This was apparently first reported on October 16, 2006 by Prensa Latina of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Unconfirmed, however, is the scuttlebutt that George W and family had been prevented recently by a US Delta Force detachment from leaving for Paraguay and was allegedly confined to Camp David. Supposedly, Mr. Bush is seeking to avoid facing charges of crimes against humanity being filed against him and Vice-President Dick Cheney at the United Nations for the war in Iraq. If true � and there are any number of American anti-war protest groups which have demanded such a recourse � this could well be Barack Obama's baptism of fire in messy foreign policy disputes. Then Senator Obama opposed the Iraq war right from the start, as he liked to remind the war-weary American electorate during the primaries and the electoral campaign. But if he were to support a war crimes trial against Bush and Cheney, he would antagonize the 46 percent of the American voters who had voted for John McCain, thus dividing all over again the public so soon after receiving a solid mandate to unify it. On the other hand, if he were to allow Bush and Cheney to escape accountability for their "crimes against humanity," he would disappoint many among the 52 percent who voted for him who expect some punitive action against the neo-con war mongers who wasted some two trillion dollars in taxpayers' money and caused the death of more than 4,000 American servicemen and women, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.. During the primaries and electoral campaign, Obama promised that, if elected, he would pull out US troops from Iraq in 16 months after he takes office. But he has since amended that position and accepted the idea of allowing 50,000 US troops to remain in Iraq in "non-combat" roles. This would not be much different from McCain's position of staying in Iraq "even up to 100 years," citing US troops in Germany, Japan and South Korea who have kept their garrisons for 63 years and still counting. Actually, Iraq as an issue was cited by only ten percent of voters surveyed as their number one concern. Sixty two percent said the economy was their chief concern. As well it should be. On the day Obama was elected president, the Dow Jones index dropped almost 450 points, as if to mock him and dare him to come and fix it up. Since Jan. 1, almost 800,000 American have lost their jobs. Some four million Americans are expected lose their homes in the next two years because they will no longer be able to afford the monthly amortizations. Car sales are down at least 30 percent compared to last year. Home values continue to fall, whittling down the equities of millions of Americans. Can Obama fix the broken US economy? He has promised to create five million jobs in the next two years, "five million jobs that cannot be outsourced." That sounds like a stab at protectionism. And why not? Free trade and globalization have boomeranged on Bush's America, even as he tried to protect American jobs and American producers by putting up numerical quotas against lumber from Canada, prawns and catfish from Vietnam, steel from South Korea and Brazil, in addition to existing quotas on imported sugar, garments, shoes, motorcycles, etc. Obama may be honest enough to admit that free trade and globalization have robbed American workers of millions of jobs, which have migrated to China, India and other points east. In which case, the solution he has in mind may likely work against the economic interests of current hosts of outsourced jobs, including the Philippines. Those who are skeptical of the accuracy of scientific public opinion surveys should take note that on the day before Election Day, the CNN Poll of Polls, which averaged several concurrent polls, put Obama ahead of McCain by seven percentage points, with another seven percent still undecided. The actual nationwide election results gave Obama 52 percent of the popular vote, compared to 46 for McCain, or a margin of six points. If there was a Bradley Effect, it was not enough to materially affect the outcome. The defining mantra in this campaign was Change. Obama early on realized that the American people were aching for genuine, meaningful change. Change in Iraq. Change in economic relations. Change in social services, especially in health care. Obama hinged his whole campaign on Change We Need, and the American public responded positively. McCain's belated attempt to present himself also as an agent of change was not credible. Many voters rightly saw him as merely a clone of George W. When voters were asked which candidate represented Change, 92 percent said Obama. Only five percent said McCain. We in the Philippines also ache for Change. But do we have a visionary Obama in our future? Or do we have nothing but tiresome and predictable McCains? ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com. To subscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Subscribe. To unsubscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Unsubscribe. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to "Obama and Change" White backlash against Obama It might be worth doing a little fact checking. http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Jan/12-623470.html Hugo Restall, (by email), Hong Kong, Nov. 07, 2008 Editor, Far Eastern Economic Review (Of course, the US government and its official website will deny it. But the US government has lied so often in the recent past, its denial isn't worth much. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Too bad we can't convince Tony Meloto to run for President. Or maybe five million Filipinos can?? Should you and I start a signature campaign? He may never forgive me but.... Aurora Pijuan, (by email), Makati City, Nov. 07, 2008 (A Nobel Peace Prize would help. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr Abaya, Your depiction of Obama in this piece makes me gag. The whole administration kept us in this war, and also kept us safe from hostile forces within and without. Some of those hostile forces will continue with a vengence due to the changes that Obama has promised. Obama has been considered the most liberal Senator in Congress-even worse than Teddy Kennedy! The United Nations has no business prosecuting the President as we are still a sovereign nation. If the people of the U S wanted him gone, they should have mounted an impeachment. They had 8 years to do it. But the apathy here that leads so many to vote for a man who wants government to take care of the needs of everyone but the "rich,"(of which he is one), by taxing the "rich", is rampant. If you and your family could not stand our country for the past 8 years, why don't you just stay home and fix your own instead of talking about it! Shelah Hockman, (by email), Owosso, Michigan, Nov. 07, 2008 (You misunderstood me. Members of my family have gone in and out of the US more than 30 times in the past 30 years, up to and including 2008. It is only I and my late wife's American brother-in-law � white and a card-carrying member of the Republican Party � who vowed in 2003 not to set foot on the US while George W. Bush was in the White House. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. As an American born in the Philippines who watched the Philippines go to heck in a handbag once the US help and democratic principles were replaced by Spanish and Muslim graft and corruption, I resent your attacks on our country and our President whose support as Commander in Chief has kept your country from sinking further into primeval slime and so far kept the Muslim extremists as well as the Chinese at bay. Obviously, you have profited greatly by your association with us. Go home if you don't like us and prove that you can make things different in your own country. Sincerely, Grace Bellis, (by email), Nov. 07, 2008 (But I AM home. What makes you think I live in the US? And a correction on historical chronology: the US came here AFTER the Muslims and the Spaniards. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Interestingly, I had also vowed in 2001 not to set foot in the US as long as Bush was president! Christian Perez, (by email), Nov. 07, 2008 French resident in Manila wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, I shared the same feelings about stepping on American soil with Bush at the helm. In the eight years that he was there, I went only once because America had turned rogue that merited ostracism. With Barack Obama, I sense that the real America the world admires - in the mold of Jefferson, Lincoln, FDRoosevelt, JFKennedy and MLKing - will soon be back on track. Obama waged a brilliant campaign that began at the back of the pack. He defeated his rivals because he was not a "trapo" to begin with. He came across as a sincere and real leader, reeking charisma and excellence in what he did, how he looked and the way he comported himself even in the most difficult moments. He was unflappable and rock steady throughout; always focused on what he wanted to say and how matters would be handled. His grasp of domestic, foreign and cross-cutting issues were so eloquently expressed that it diminished doubts about his relative inexperience. He knew well enough as a leader to steer, and inspire Americans of all stripes (including Republicans) to do the rowing all the way to the finish line at the head of the pack. His fight for real change - from bad to good and back to great - was their fight. And boyohboy, fight they did; house by house, street by street, block by block, county by county. That he was able to muster the energies and capture the imagination of America's youth speaks volumes about the uplifting and mobilizing qualities of his leadership. Barack Hussein Obama is Everyman. In him, Amercans sense redemption and healing from their self-inflicted wounds. In him, peoples everywhere pin their hopes for a better and peaceful world wthin and beyond his term. On that historic day of November 4, 2008 we were all Americans.Best regards, Raffy Alunan, (by email), Nov. 07, 2008 Former Secretary of the Interior and Local Government wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Dear Noam and Ed: I hope you like Tony Abaya's article below about Obama. I like it very much. What do you think of it? What about the election result? Perhaps, it's a harbinger for profound change? Shalom, George Patterson, (by email), Quezon City, Nov. 07, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww No need for an Obama Hi Mr. Abaya! Before anything else welcome back to the Philippines! Just recently, the Philippines has been listed as number five among countries whose population is suffering from hunger. Instead of addressing the problem, this amoral government went on a denial mode and tried to cover up the issue by announcing salary increases/ bonuses and fare reduction. Adding "insult to injury", Gloria Arroyo the illegitimate and immoral president of this benighted nation will again travel to United States for the opening of the UN special session impervious of the fiscal situation of the country and what the money to be spent for such a trip can do to millions of Filipinos suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Gloria Arroyo is beyond redemption and any candidate she will endorse in the 2010 presidential election will definitely lose to a unified opposition, unless of course special-Ops are again conducted by the administration with tacit approval and cooperation by the Commission on Election. Narciso Ner, (by email), Davao City, Nov. 07, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, I was particularly elated with the results of the US elections. The Republican Party was just decimated. This, in large part, was a result of a 'people power' revolt against the Bush/Cheney reign of error. The McCain campaign had its first major blunder in picking Sarah Palin as the VP candidate. She is just dense. The sad part is a lot of people, Filipinos in particular, preferred the McCain/Palin ticket because, according to them, they are "pro-life". I went into a discussion with one of them saying what does it have to do with governance of the most powerful nation on earth? It's hard to argue with these people who have been blinded by faith. There's nothing wrong to have faith but to relate this with choosing who to vote for is just not right. A lot of e-mails were also circulated linking Obama to Muslims, being a terrorist, the anti-Christ. It just didn't work. McCain resorted to character assassination because he didn't have a platform to run on. He's just a Bush clone. In the end, it didn't matter. History was written. It's the most amazing moment in the history of the US. It shows that not only the elite have the chance to become the president of the US but anyone who has a dream. Obama's story is one for the books. I just remembered Mr. 911, Rudy Guiliani, during his speech at the Republican national convention. He was making fun of Obama being a community organizer. To Rudy, I say, "In your face!" I believe John McCain is an honorable man. He was just made a sacrificial lamb by his party. They knew that anyone who ran for president under the Republican Party would definitely lose because of the Bush backlash. They realize that McCain has nowhere to go or has no future with the party because of his age. So they kept the big guns away from the spotlight, like Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist of Florida. Those guys will surface in 2012. But if Obama does good, they will be incognito for another four years. Anyways, the world is hoping Obama does well. We all need it. Cheers. Chito Salalac, (by email), Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 07, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Might as well include those Republican and Democrats in the US Congress and Senate with Bush and Dick Cheney in the 'crime against humanity' as majority of the Republican and Democrats in the House approved giving a go-signal to invade Iraq. Maybe a good idea so we can replace most congressman and senators. Nonoy Ramos, (by email), Pennsylvania, Nov. 07, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Change in the Philippines cannot be effected by mere change of political personalities of corrupt incumbents while thousands more are waiting in the wings of the government. What we need is CHANGE by way of JUSTICE REFORM of the current government monopolized justice system that protects, instead of incarcerates, actual guilty corrupt officials. I am still steadfast in my opinion that that change can be achieved only by giving the ordinary Filipino people a deciding voice in justice through the adoption of the Philippine Jury System so that, on their own decision (not by the decision of the government "owners" of justice), the ordinary common people can investigate, indict, and convict grafters to send them to jail for good with high speed justice, the jury system, with no ifs and buts. "Yes, we can" said President-Elect Barak Obama. Yes, "kaya natin" said Gov Among Panlilio. I invite all ordinary common people and citizens of the Philippines to enact by their direct vote through the referendum process under Republic Act 6735 the proposed "People's Jury Initiative". That initiative is attached in this email or the reader may ask a copy of it by sending his request to [email protected]. It is time for a change - a change to send grafters to jail be it the corrupt president, senators, congressmen, governors, mayors or barrangay captains. Period. Private citizens that decide in justice cannot be scared to make their decision because their livelihood with their private employers is not dependent on the benevolence of, and cannot be sabotaged by, government officials. I likewise invite the leadership of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines, the CBCP, to sponsor for enactment by the initiative process the "People's Jury Initiative" if it is truly interested in a change for the better quality of life of the living breathing poor Filipino people and not only those who will be borne by disallowing Filipinos to use the condom. Marlowe Camello, (by email), Homeland, CA, Nov. 08, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, In terms of the Philippines, I have yet to see the day when we really have an altruistic leader that sought change for the better since the time of Elpidio Quirino, save for Ramon Magsaysay whose sudden death by plane a crash is highly suspicious (conspiracy theory driven from the highest authority in the White House, if not the Pentagon). And yes, we did have changes in the past as the adage goes, same old horse only different riders. I dread to see the day the future society the next generation will inherit will be one that is dysfunctional and fully chaotic. I lost hope since Cory Aquino's one-time address at the US Congress early in her administration that our country inherited a debt that we did not owe, but shall honor to pay it (at the expense of our taxpayers where more than 60% of our national budget goes to debt service annually to this day). Whatever pressure the Washington D. C. based World Bank and IMF gave her to turnaround her country's policy position is anybody's guess. Rumor has it that some of her economic advisers were in favor of placing a moratorium on this debt subject to complete audit. Those found to be clear of foul play shall be paid and those aren't shall be meted with law suits, for example the mothballed Bataan nuclear plant. Do I see light at the end of the tunnel? Hardly a flicker. (Name withheld on request), (by email), Nov. 08, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Welcome back! The main reason of the Obama win is the fact that he captures the psyche of the Americans. Everytime an issue raised against him, the prime media cries foul and claims that it is anti-American or negative, more especially if you do not have the facts or evidence to prove it. This is the reason Obama's every record even his school credentials are always unavailable. Hope that he keeps his gigantic promises, although in his victory speech part of it says .... "we will reach there, not in a year, not in two years or not even one term" or words to that effect. This only shows that he is trying to turn his back on some of his promises. Hope that I am wrong. Thanks. Bert Celera, (by email), Nov. 08, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr Abaya -- Sending this very fine analysis in case you haven't seen it � Isabel Escoda, (by email), Hong Kong, Nov. 09, 2008 IT STILL FELT GOOD THE MORNING AFTER By FRANK RICH, New York Times ON the morning after a black man won the White House, America's tears of catharsis gave way to unadulterated joy. Our nation was still in the same ditch it had been the day before, but the atmosphere was giddy. We felt good not only because we had breached a racial barrier as old as the Republic. Dawn also brought the realization that we were at last emerging from an abusive relationship with our country's 21st-century leaders. The festive scenes of liberation that Dick Cheney had once imagined for Iraq were finally taking place � in cities all over America. For eight years, we've been told by those in power that we are small, bigoted and stupid � easily divided and easily frightened. This was the toxic catechism of Bush-Rove politics. It was the soiled banner picked up by the sad McCain campaign, and it was often abetted by an amen corner in the dominant news media. We heard this slander of America so often that we all started to believe it, liberals most certainly included. If I had a dollar for every Democrat who told me there was no way that Americans would ever turn against the war in Iraq or definitively reject Bush governance or elect a black man named Barack Hussein Obama president, I could almost start to recoup my 401(k). Few wanted to take yes for an answer. So let's be blunt. Almost every assumption about America that was taken as a given by our political culture on Tuesday morning was proved wrong by Tuesday night. The most conspicuous clich�s to fall, of course, were the twin suppositions that a decisive number of white Americans wouldn't vote for a black presidential candidate � and that they were lying to pollsters about their rampant racism. But the polls were accurate. There was no "Bradley effect." A higher percentage of white men voted for Obama than any Democrat since Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton included. Obama also won all four of those hunting-and-Hillary-loving Rust Belt states that became 2008's obsession among slumming upper-middle-class white journalists: Pennsylvania and Michigan by double digits, as well as Ohio and even Indiana, which has gone Democratic only once (1964) since 1936. The solid Republican South, led by Virginia and North Carolina, started to turn blue as well. While there are still bigots in America, they are in unambiguous retreat. And what about all those terrified Jews who reportedly abandoned their progressive heritage to buy into the smears libeling Obama as an Israel-hating terrorist? Obama drew a larger percentage of Jews nationally (78) than Kerry had (74) and � mazel tov, Sarah Silverman! � won Florida. Let's defend Hispanic-Americans, too, while we're at it. In one of the more notorious observations of the campaign year, a Clinton pollster, Sergio Bendixen, told The New Yorker in January that "the Hispanic voter � and I want to say this very carefully � has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates." Let us say very carefully that a black presidential candidate won Latinos � the fastest-growing demographic in the electorate � 67 percent to 31 (up from Kerry's 53-to-44 edge and Gore's 62-to-35). Young voters also triumphed over the condescension of the experts. "Are they going to show up?" Cokie Roberts of ABC News asked in February. "Probably not. They never have before. By the time November comes, they'll be tired." In fact they turned up in larger numbers than in 2004, and their disproportionate Democratic margin made a serious difference, as did their hard work on the ground. They're not the ones who need Geritol. The same commentators who dismissed every conceivable American demographic as racist, lazy or both got Sarah Palin wrong too. When she made her debut in St. Paul, the punditocracy was nearly uniform in declaring her selection a brilliant coup. There hadn't been so much instant over-the-top praise by the press for a cynical political stunt since President Bush "landed" a jet on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in that short-lived triumph "Mission Accomplished." The rave reviews for Palin were completely disingenuous. Anyone paying attention (with the possible exception of John McCain) could see she was woefully ill-equipped to serve half-a-heartbeat away from the presidency. The conservatives Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy said so on MSNBC when they didn't know their mikes were on. But, hey, she was a dazzling TV presence, the thinking went, so surely doltish Americans would rally around her anyway. "She killed!" cheered Noonan about the vice-presidential debate, revising her opinion upward and marveling at Palin's gift for talking "over the heads of the media straight to the people." Many talking heads thought she tied or beat Joe Biden. The people, however, were reaching a less charitable conclusion and were well ahead of the Beltway curve in fleeing Palin. Only after polls confirmed that she was costing McCain votes did conventional wisdom in Washington finally change, demoting her from Republican savior to scapegoat overnight. But Palin's appeal wasn't overestimated only because of her kitschy "American Idol" star quality. Her fierce embrace of the old Karl Rove wedge politics, the divisive pitting of the "real America" against the secular "other" America, was also regarded as a sure-fire winner. The second most persistent assumption by both pundits and the McCain campaign this year � after the likely triumph of racism � was that the culture war battlegrounds from 2000 and 2004 would remain intact. This is true in exactly one instance: gay civil rights. Though Rove's promised "permanent Republican majority" lies in humiliating ruins, his and Bush's one secure legacy will be their demagogic exploitation of homophobia. The success of the four state initiatives banning either same-sex marriage or same-sex adoptions was the sole retro trend on Tuesday. And Obama, who largely soft-pedaled the issue this year, was little help. In California, where other races split more or less evenly on a same-sex marriage ban, some 70 percent of black voters contributed to its narrow victory. That lagging indicator aside, nearly every other result on Tuesday suggests that while the right wants to keep fighting the old boomer culture wars, no one else does. Three state initiatives restricting abortion failed. Bill Ayers proved a lame villain, scaring no one. Americans do not want to revisit Vietnam (including in Iraq). For all the attention paid by the news media and McCain-Palin to rancorous remembrances of things past, I sometimes wondered whether most Americans thought the Weather Underground was a reunion band and the Hanoi Hilton a chain hotel. Socialism, the evil empire and even Ronald Reagan may be half-forgotten blurs too. If there were any doubts the 1960s are over, they were put to rest Tuesday night when our new first family won the hearts of the world as it emerged on that vast blue stage to join the celebration in Chicago's Grant Park. The bloody skirmishes that took place on that same spot during the Democratic convention 40 years ago � young vs. old, students vs. cops, white vs. black � seemed as remote as the moon. This is another America � hardly a perfect or prejudice-free America, but a union that can change and does, aspiring to perfection even if it can never achieve it. Still, change may come slowly to the undying myths bequeathed to us by the Bush decade. "Don't think for a minute that power concedes," Obama is fond of saying. Neither does groupthink. We now keep hearing, for instance, that America is "a center-right nation" � apparently because the percentages of Americans who call themselves conservative (34), moderate (44) and liberal (22) remain virtually unchanged from four years ago. But if we've learned anything this year, surely it's that labels are overrated. Those same polls find that more and more self-described conservatives no longer consider themselves Republicans. Americans now say they favor government doing more (51 percent), not less (43) � an 11-point swing since 2004 � and they still overwhelmingly reject the Iraq war. That's a centrist country tilting center-left, and that's the majority who voted for Obama. The post-Bush-Rove Republican Party is in the minority because it has driven away women, the young, suburbanites, black Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans, educated Americans, gay Americans and, increasingly, working-class Americans. Who's left? The only states where the G.O.P. increased its percentage of the presidential vote relative to the Democrats were West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. Even the North Carolina county where Palin expressed her delight at being in the "real America" went for Obama by more than 18 percentage points. The actual real America is everywhere. It is the America that has been in shell shock since the aftermath of 9/11, when our government wielded a brutal attack by terrorists as a club to ratchet up our fears, betray our deepest constitutional values and turn Americans against one another in the name of "patriotism." What we started to remember the morning after Election Day was what we had forgotten over the past eight years, as our abusive relationship with the Bush administration and its press enablers dragged on: That's not who we are. So even as we celebrated our first black president, we looked around and rediscovered the nation that had elected him. "We are the ones we've been waiting for," Obama said in February, and indeed millions of such Americans were here all along, waiting for a leader. This was the week that they reclaimed their country. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww HI Tony, This is the only American election that I closely watched (via TV and Internet). I'm glad Obama won since he provided a hope for a better change. The things that I noticed in this recent election and how they are relevant in our country 1. Their campaign is the longest in any election. Here we kid ourselves. The campaign is officially starts in 2012 but we know those early wannbees are already campaigning. Maybe we should remove the so called campaign period for president and let those interested exposed themselves and be under scrutiny all the time. 2. Their election system is not perfect as I though to be but I think they are less prone to cheating. The concept of electoral is amazing. It makes the counting of votes for president very fast since you need to know who won in the state and the tally for preseident is done. No need for national canvassing. Here cheaters can affect the national tally by operating in ceartain far-flung area. I hope this is strogly considered here. 3. The canditates do tons of negative campaigning but still engage in policy debate and shows clear difference in agenda and plans for the country. And even if the counting is not yet done, they concede if they see that they lost preventing the escalation of partisan politics. Here canditates muddle policy speech and negative campaign. There's no separation on policy (if there's any) among them. And nobody accepts defeat!!!! Mabuhay po kayo Regards, Marvin Valido, (by email), Nov. 10, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Where is the "Filipino" Obama we have been searching for all these three or is it four years now? Certainly not Binay! Hope lingers. Cesar Sarino, (by email), Nov. 11, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Check this out: haha! Obama of the Philippines??? 'Barack' of RP doesn't mind dark skin http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/12/08/barack-rp-doesnt-mind-dark-skin and Binay likens self to Obama, seeks presidency: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news2_nov12_2008 The same trapo guy! Buddy of one of the corrupt leaders in Asia� Well, do you know Binay's personal treasury department? lol. The same skin� The end of ABS-CBN's and Ferdinand Fabella's columns should be... "But the real Obamas of the Philippines are Governor Panlilio and Mr. Tony Meloto. The are the REAL "change" we need!". Period. Well, Trinalles too� but then, the problem with Trinalles is, he's brainwashed at PMA school to become the future pawn (perfect weapon) of the veteran trapos like Honasan. While Governor Panlilio and Mr. Tony Meloto didn't have to be soaked as Manchurians but HAVE REAL HEARTS, REAL HOPE AND REAL CHANGE FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE FILIPINOS. You aren't blind, right? If you can only see their humbling works for us, Binay becomes a phony midget or Chihuahua of hope! LF, [email protected], Nov. 11, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww While reading your last post, it reminded me of one of the numerous left wing blogs in the Internet, during the last election. It contained a lot of erroneous statements, which are beyond the realm of probability. To illustrate: 1. Bush has bought 98,000 acres in Acuifero Guarini in Paraguay. This was perpetuated by a left wing blog, (Democratic Underground) and an ousted Argentinian Politico. Bush's net worth is estimated at $9M- $25M, mainly from the sale of a baseball team before he became Governor. I don't think he has enough money to buy the lot. Even the Governor of that area denies any such sale happened. (George W may have only $9-25 million, but the Bin Laden family � the family of Osama � which he allowed to be flown out of the US when all civilian flights were banned right after 9/11, has several hundred millions which they will most likely be willing to spend, to return the favor. ACA) 2. The Bush family is being detained in Camp David by the Delta Force doesn't even warrant refuting. (I clearly stated that this was 'scuttlebutt,' in case you missed it. ACA) 3. Many of the 52% of American voters who are anti-war want to put Bush and Cheney on trial for "crimes against humanity". Only the extreme left wing Kooks and the Loonies in the UN could conceive such a trial. Might I remind you that the US Congress voted, 77 Senators and 237 Reps., for the war on Iraq? The UN itself gave the go ahead on the resolution. (The UN weapons inspectors also reported after due diligence that they could not find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which Bush and the neo-cons had used as rationale for invading that country. ACA) Barack Obama was preoccupied with who was going to be appointed dogcatcher in Chicago. There never was a resolution for the Iraq War in the State Legislature of Illinois. If there was, Obama would have probably voted "present", as he has done over 100 times, while serving as a state senator, in matters of importance to Michigan. It is revisionist thinking or Monday morning quarterbacking to claim that they had been lied to when they have the same intelligence briefing as the President. (It happened in Vietnam; it also happened in Iraq. ACA) While Congress has the luxury of fiddling, the President has to choose the course of action necessary. In this case, he happened to be wrong in regards to weapons of mass destruction. However, even you should know that Sadam used chemical weapons against the Kurds. (Which chemical and biological weapons were supplied to Saddam by the US during war against Iran in the 1980s ACA) 4. The US has plans to bomb Iran to favor a candidate. There are no immediate plans to bomb Iran. Going to war to boost a candidate is not the norm in the US. If there is any bombing to be done, it would be by Israel. (See below. ACA) I detect some elitism in you last 2 Emails regarding the qualifications of the candidates, diminishing the accomplishments of McCain for finishing at the bottom of his class, and praising the Ivy League education of Obama. America does not vote for a candidate because of academic qualifications. If it did so, a few great presidents would not make it. Harry Truman was a haberdasher and during the last ranking of the presidents, he was the 6th or 7th. Abraham Lincoln was largely self- taught, George Washington did not graduate from college and Eisenhower was an average student. A brilliant Marcos was no bargain for the Philippines. (I wasn't around to observe the elections to the presidency of Washington and Lincoln and the re-election of Truman. But in the 2008 elections, Obama was clearly superior to McCain not only in education, but also in temperament, intelligence, eloquence, demeanor and party platform. McCain admitted early during the primaries that he knew absolutely nothing about economics. If I were an American voter, I would thank McCain for his candor but would hesitate giving him the nod to find solutions for the country's and the world's most catastrophic economic problem since the 1930s. ACA) I didn't know that you have vowed not to visit the US because of Bush, if so, then you missed an opportunity to witness the present state of choosing a president. The campaigns have deteriorated into a battle of half-truths and spinmeisters, Internet blogs, and dirty tricks. Unfortunately, you probably receive most of your information from the foreign press, CNN, and the generally left leaning US press coming mostly from the bicoastal US which has treated the Middle America as a cultural and political wasteland. They are so left leaning that just a little wisp of a wind could put them in the ground. True to its slogan, The New York Times as well as the LA Times, will give you all the news that is fit to print, with a corollary- against McCain. When at least 80% of the editorial staffs admit voting Democratic, a little movement from the left will look right, even if it is only towards the center. Obama won largely because of the extreme make over, (Hollywood Style) and the extraordinary luck of an economic tsunami, which happened with a Republican at the helm. In spite of all the good omens and the unpopularity of Bush, McCain was ahead by 4-5% in October before the Wall Street collapse. He coapted the traditional Republican Party's tax cut and successfully sold it to the faithful. Based on the foreign reaction and your praise of the Messiah to the high heavens, America has finally found its way to a respectable community of nations. I wonder how he would react when confronted by a recalcitrant Ahmadinejad on Nuclear Arms. Shocked would be too timid a reaction, when he finds out that his oratory, which caused the faithful, and I might add you, to swoon, could not budge Mahmoud. Even more shocked, when Israel does not wait for the UN and his permission to bomb Iran. (The neo-cons led by Dick Cheney, and egged on by the Christian Evangelicals, wanted to bomb Iran years ago. In March 2007, Adm. William Fallon was transferred from Honolulu to the Persian Gulf to coordinate the action of two carrier battle groups already on station, with a third on its way. But Adm. Fallon disagreed with the Bomb Iran plan and he was forced to retire in March 2008. Both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mark Mullen also disapprove of the Bomb Iran plan. If Gates is retained by Obama, Obama will likely not bomb Iran. ACA) So, Change we must, and as I have told my friends, bow we must, when the Chosen's name, Obama, is uttered in our midst. Hopefully, he does not become Carter II or Hoover II. (Herbert Hoover was a Republican. ACA) Honorio M. Cruz, MD, (by email), New Jersey, Nov. 12, 2008) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Forwarded to Tapatt by Louie Fernandez) After Obama's win, white backlash festers in US By Patrik Jonsson Patrik Jonsson � Mon Nov 17, 3:00 am ET AFP � US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama speaks during a rally at Widener University � Atlanta � In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting "inappropriate" comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election. On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa. The election of America's first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center � a record in modern presidential elections. Moreover, the white nationalist movement, bemoaning an election that confirmed voters' comfort with a multiracial demography, expects Mr. Obama's election to be a potent recruiting tool � one that watchdog groups warn could give new impetus to a mostly defanged fringe element. Most election-related threats have so far been little more than juvenile pranks. But the political marginalization of certain Southern whites, economic distress in rural areas, and a White House occupant who symbolizes a multiethnic United States could combine to produce a backlash against what some have heralded as the dawn of a postracial America. In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession. "Most of this movement is not violent, but there is a substantive underbelly that is violent and does try to make a bridge to people who feel disenfranchised," says Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "The question is: Will this swirl become a tornado or just an ill wind? We're not there yet, but there's dust on the horizon, a swirling of wind, and the atmospherics are getting put together for [conflict]." Though postelection racist incidents haven't posed any real danger to society or the president-elect, law enforcement is taking note. "We're trying to be out there at the cutting edge of this and trying to stay ahead of groups that are emerging," says Special Agent Darrin Blackford, a spokesman for the Secret Service, which guards the US president. "Anytime you start seeing [extremist propaganda] floating around, you have to be concerned," adds Lt. Gary Thornberry of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, a member of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. "As far as it being an alarmist situation, I don't see that yet. From a law enforcement point of view, you have to be careful, because it's not illegal to have an ideology." After sparking conflict and showdowns in the 1990s � think Ruby Ridge, Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing � white supremacist and nationalist groups began this century largely splintered and powerless. Though high immigration levels helped boost the number of hate groups from 602 in 2000 to 888 in 2007, key leaders of such groups had died, been imprisoned, or were otherwise marginalized. But postelection, at least two white nationalist websites � Stormfront and the Council of Conservative Citizens � report their servers have crashed because of heavy traffic. The League of the South, a secessionist group, says Web hits jumped from 50,000 a month to 300,000 since Nov. 4, and its phones are ringing off the hook. "The vitriol is flailing out shotgun-style," says Mr. Levin. "They recognize Obama as a tipping point, the perfect storm in the narrative of the hate world � the apocalypse that they've been moaning about has come true." Supremacist propaganda is already on the upswing. In Oklahoma, fringe groups have distributed anti-Obama propaganda through newspapers and taped it to home mail boxes. Ugly incidents such as cross-burnings, assassination betting pools, and Obama effigies are also being reported from Maine to Alabama. The Ku Klux Klan has been tied to recent news events, as well. Two Tennessee men implicated for plotting to kill 88 black men, including Obama, were tied to the KKK chapter whose leader was convicted in a civil trial in Brandenburg, Ky., last week, for inciting violence. The murder last week in Louisiana of a KKK initiate, allegedly killed after trying to back out of joining, came at the hands of a new group called Sons of Dixie, authorities say. "We're not looking at a race war or anything close to it, but ... what we are seeing now is undeniably a fairly major backlash by some subset of the white population," says Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report in Montomgery, Ala. "Many whites feel that the country their forefathers built has been ... stolen from them, so there's in some places a real boiling rage, and that can only become worse as more people lose jobs." In an election in which barely 20 percent of native Southern whites in Deep South states voted for Obama, the newly apparent political clout of "outsiders" and people of color has been unnerving to some. "In states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, there was extraordinary racial polarization in the vote," says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Black Americans really do believe that Obama is going to represent their interests and views in ways that they haven't been before, and, in the Deep South, whites feel exactly the opposite." But for nonviolent secessionist groups like the League of the South, the hope is for a more vigorous debate about the direction of the US and the South's role in it, says Michael Tuggle, a League blogger in North Carolina. Mr. Tuggle says his group isn't looking for an 1860-style secession but, rather, a model that Spain, for one, is moving toward, in which "there's a great deal of autonomy for constituent regions" � a foil to what is seen as unchecked, dangerous federal power in Washington. "To a lot of people, the idea of secession doesn't seem so crazy anymore," says Tuggle. "People are talking about how left out they feel, ... and they feel that something strange and radical has taken over our country." OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO To subscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Subscribe. To unsubscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Unsubscribe. |