Will new US president survive jinx? - DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco

Given the high tech manner by which the US presidential election is conducted, we should be getting a good indication of who won yesterday’s contest by this time. Whoever gets elected to head the world’s only remaining superpower will have to contend with a jinx associated with those who are elected in years ending in "0".

"Zero year" presidents either died in office or suffered an assassination attempt. Ronald Reagan was the last President elected in a zero year (1980). He was shot by an assailant who was obsessed with actress Jodie Foster, but Reagan survived that. John Kennedy was elected in 1960 and he was shot dead in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1940 and enjoyed four terms in office but died in his fourth term due to illness.

In 1840, William Henry Harrison got pneumonia during his inauguration and died sometime later. Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and was shot dead before the end of his second term. James Garfield was elected in 1880 and was shot by a disgruntled job seeker. William McKinley was elected in 1900 and was shot by an anarchist in September 1901. In 1920, Warren G. Harding was elected and he fell ill and died in 1923.

So, it would seem that the election is not really between Bush and Gore but as my good friend Zenaida puts it, between Cheney and Lieberman. Using astrology, Zenaida says Bush appears to have the edge over Gore. Tuesday’s planetary placements are friendlier and more harmonious to his birth chart than to Vice President Gore’s.

The more interesting observation of Zenaida, however, is the way she compared the astrological circumstances of yesterday’s contest to our own presidential contest in 1998. The moon on US election day, Zenaida says, will be in the zodiac sign linked to the planet of unreality, fantasy and dreams. "People will be confused and dreamy, and will vote not in a rational down-to-earth way, but based on their hopes and wishes."

In our case, the presidential candidate who won in 1998 (Erap, who else?) was the one whose birth chart had unreality written all over it. Thus, Zenaida points out, he was able to make "people see him through smoke and mirrors, rough edges smoothed over by a filmy veil: or via the ‘magic magic’ of the celluloid world." Hopes and dreams ran high yesterday in the US, as they did back here in 1998.

Worrisome however, is Zenaida’s reading of the US election day chart and our own May 1998 election day chart. "Both portend unrealistic hopes turning to disappointment, resentment – and violence."

In more concrete terms, whoever wins the Bush versus Gore contest will probably preside over the downward trend of the economy. And because Americans have grown used to the good life during the Clinton years, the frustration and dislocation that is to come will hit them hard.

In my column last Monday, I wrote that the Americans are about to follow our example and make an Erap-like mistake. Americans may yet experience the political turbulence we are experiencing now. Zenaida tells me that too, was written in the stars.

Stay away

There are a few personalities, mostly politicians from past regimes, who should stay away from the limelight if they truly want to preserve the image of the current struggle to put a new dispensation in Malacañang. It certainly does not help the cause if such names as Peping Cojuangco, Joe de Venecia, etc. are associated with it. For some reason, valid or not, these names have lost their credibility too.

Maybe it is even unfair, specially to Joe de V. The former Speaker may now really have the best interest of the country at heart but his past image as a trapo intrudes too much. I heard someone say that our present problem is the fault of FVR. If only FVR chose a worthier candidate to endorse, maybe the opposition could have united and mustered enough numbers to beat Erap.

Of course everyone can still help in their own quiet way. But Peping and Joe de V had made themselves much too visible for comfort. They should take the cue from Gloria’s husband Mike, who has kept a very low profile because the limelight rightfully belongs to Gloria. As head of the United Opposition, Gloria should be seen as making all the calls herself. Kibitzers can spoil everything.

As it turns out, Erap loyalists have now turned their artillery on Peping as someone deep into jueteng himself during the term of Tita Cory. That needlessly weakens the image of the Opposition and causes the masa to be cynical about change. Joe de V has made his own calls for a coalition Cabinet and that detracts from what Gloria has been saying about her own plans and proposals.

In this regard, Sen. Raul Roco should be commended for putting his own ambitions aside. Since he made public that he is one with the United Opposition, Raul has kept a much lower profile than usual, as he deferred to Gloria’s leadership. That’s the way to go, if the opposition seriously thinks it can get somewhere.

Bad taste in the mouth

Dr. Ernie Espiritu must have been reading up on what has been going on here from the safety of his Dallas perch. Here’s what he sent for today that captures what many people feel about trapos or traditional politicians.

A lion in the zoo was lying in the sun licking its ass when a visitor turned to the zookeeper and said, "That’s a docile old thing isn’t it?"

"No way," said the zookeeper, "it’s the most ferocious beast in the zoo. Why just an hour ago it dragged a congressman into the cage and completely devoured him."

"Hardly seems possible" said the astonished visitor, "but why is it lying there licking its ass?"

"The poor thing is trying to get the taste out of its mouth."

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])