Obamania

A single course in political science at the UP does not qualify me as a political expert or analyst. But like many laymen here and in the rest of the world, I would like to express my euphoric delight over the victory of Barack Obama which throws light on our own political system.

I have long thought of the title “Obamania”, having been obsessed with seeing the first black president in the US. An unofficial and isolated source claimed that Abraham Lincoln had Negro blood. If this is a fact, it makes him the first black president in US history, the logic involved here being that anyone with a single drop of Negro blood is considered black. Obama is called a black president although he is half-white.

In any case, I have been a keen admirer of Obama since the initial days of the campaign which I avidly watched over television, along with the presidential (and even vice-presidential) debates. Obama’s speeches and arguments were always the supreme model of eloquence. (Unlike the Greek orator Demosthenes, he did not have to put pebbles in his mouth to correct a deficiency.) Obama spoke not only eloquently but also logically (logic stands imminently in my mind because I minored in philosophy and logic). Further, the substance of what he said was consistently laced with idealism and a deep sense of humility which assured the listener that Obama, if elected, would rise above petty politics for the greater interest of his country and people.

This thought brought to mind the stark contrast in our own local politics wherein personal interests almost always over-ride loyalty to party and country. I recall a senator who was conspicuously present at the oath-taking of GMA at EDSA. Because he did not get the position for which he had aspired, he readily turned oppositionist.

This is typical. A politician shifts loyalties at the wink of an eye or at the drop of a hat, and if he becomes disgruntled with all the parties existing, he organizes his own!

This, I believe, explains the proliferation of our political parties which, multiplying as swiftly as the amoeba, cause abominable confusion.

Returning to the US presidential elections, despite the fierce and bitter rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over the presidential nomination, she submerged her private sorrow and heartily endorsed and campaigned for her fellow-Democrat Obama. Former President Bill Clinton must have been sorely disappointed with his wife’s defeat but he very gamely and vigorously campaigned for Obama likewise.

Unwavering loyalty to party — generally alien to our politicians — was also evidenced by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s thunderous endorsement of Obama given despite Kennedy’s precarious health condition. Colin Powell’s endorsement was the singular exception that proved the rule. Jesse Jackson who had earlier run for the presidency and lost, and had maligned Obama during the latter’s campaign, shed tears of joy during the mammoth victory celebration in Chicago.

Mud-slinging was absent from the campaign although Republican Sen. McCain and Gov. Palim made some snide remarks about Obama. Palin exhibited “star” quality as well as the winning and arresting antics of a Hollywood icon. These traits in our own candidates would have been enough for them to win in any election, but the antics did not work for Palin whose interviews showed her — to the judicious and educated electorate — ill-prepared and unfit for the vice-presidency.

Obama has monumental promises to fulfill given the staggeringly chaotic state of affairs Bush will leave him. Obama is thoroughly aware of “the steep climb ahead”. I ardently feel he will rise to the enormous challenges that even now already confront him.

I liken him to Abraham Lincoln, the American I admire most, who expressed the belief in his classic Gettysburg Address that “all men are created equal”, and whose emancipation of the slaves has enabled Obama to achieve the impossible. Indeed, Obama’s story is akin to Lincoln’s own: He has traversed a long and arduous road from his own log cabin to the White House.