President Barack Obama's reelection shows that the demographic has clearly shifted away from the Republican Party, that despite having record unemployment in the US, social issues (his support of abortion and reproductive rights), Obamacare (his controversial healthcare program), and especially Bush's unpopular war and the economic crisis largely pinned on the former president, have indubitably helped reelect America's first colored head of state.
I never liked George W. Bush. I'm convinced that several of the scandals that have rocked Gloria Arroyo's administration could be traced to the American chief executive's disappointment (and clandestine vindictiveness) toward Arroyo's decision to pull out the troops in Iraq. It could be remembered that Arroyo chose to save Filipino truck driver Angelo Dela Cruz by pulling out Filipino troops from the coalition in Bush's War on Terror (after terrorists demanded for the pullout in exchange of letting him go). Ours were the first troops pulled out of Iraq, and this embarrassed Bush and America, especially because the Philippines is widely recognized as the US's most staunch ally in the Asia and the Pacific region. When I worked in the Palace a few years ago, it seemed like an open secret (though clearly a conspiracy theory) among other staff and officials that scandals like the 'Hello Garci' wiretapping were released by the Americans to help topple Arroyo.
But blaming the economy on Bush alone is unfair and somewhat inconsistent with the facts of history. Many Americans blame Bush and the Republicans for the economy, but it was Bill Clinton, a much-loved Democrat, who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act that used to separate and 'protect' commercial banks from investment banks (institutions that function a lot like a greedy gambler, highly susceptible to speculation and manipulation). The Act was passed into law in 1933, learning from grave mistakes that lead to the stock market crash of 1929.
Greed was moderated throughout the decades this pivotal law was in place-in fact, its regulations and clear delineation of finance institutions' functions and source of capitalization are credited as features of this policy that successfully shaped and stabilized American's financial sector, leading to the superpower's glorious economic ascent after World War II.
But, evidently beholden to campaign financiers and giving in to Citigroup's intense lobbying, Bill Clinton repealed it in 1999, giving Wall Street, ever greedy and oh so eager Wall Street, almost unlimited access to private deposits in commercial banks (if I remember it correctly, WAMU was among the first casualties, signaling the dawning of dark, dreadful days ahead).
Less than a decade after being repealed (after investment banks started to excessively enjoy the tearing down of Glass- Steagall's protective barrier), Wall Street crashed, sending ripples of tsunami proportions to economies the world over. The world economy has not yet fully recovered; European markets still severely ailing.
In 2009, John McCain, a Republican (and 2008 presidential candidate of the GOP), proposed amendments to the financial reform bill that would've reinstated the crucial provisions (and protections) of Glass- Steagall. He failed to get popular support for his efforts in the US congress.
If in the Philippines, the unpopular Arroyo's stern but long term-oriented fiscal reforms and economic policies have made ours an idiot-proof economy (in other words, it doesn't matter that Aquino is president now, the momentum was there even before he assumed office in June 2010), Clinton's decision to repeal Glass- Steagall has made the Wall Street's demise inevitable, regardless of who the president was at the time of the crash (if any, Bush's War on Terror, evil and deplorable as it may have been like any other war, might have even delayed the economic meltdown of 2007).
Policies, after all, are more powerful than presidents are in effecting lasting change, whether positive or not. Problem is when presidents decide to 'fix policies that ain't broke' like Clinton did during his time.
As for Obama's second term, here's hoping he makes good on most of his promises-not all, because if he completely has his way, then we can kiss our flourishing BPO industry sayonara-along with all the infrastructure invested for it!
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Email: mikelopez8888@aol.com.