Saturday, January 17, 2009

I’m Relieved His Stepping Down

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. - Warren G. Bennis

The fortnight ago, David Letterman made some remarks about Bush’s farewell speech. He commented “We all know how we feel about this”, much to the audience laughter and applause. David and his audience’s sentiment are understandable. Recently in BBC, a program called “Intelligence Square” debated about Bush’s achievement as president. Before the debate, poll showed “cons” at 60%, after the debate, it increased to 63%. That only proved, in that discussion at least, that Bush is the worst American president in the past 50 years.

Personally, I don’t like him from the very start. To me, he personifies a rich man’s son spoiled brat attitude, taking the easy road from education to social standing by relying on his father’s wealth and connection. His lop-sided smile and “I-don’t-care-what-people-think-of-my-stupid-remarks” approach irritates me. Looking from afar, I saw most of his local and international decisions either ill advised or self serving. His overall administration didn’t fair well either. That’s what you get when you surround yourself with “political appointees” (persons you owe favor) and people with personal agenda.

Some will think, “What has that got to do with me?” For starter, since Spain lost the war and sold our islands to the Americans, our governmental policies, domestic or international, and economic survival are tied up with the empire. We don’t move until the man at the top nods his head. So if the top honcho can’t make up his mind, we at the bottom are in deep trouble. Fortunately, by design or just pure luck, somebody has the “bright” idea to export our labor to other countries. Remittances from these workers cushioned the impact of the Asian economic meltdown of the 90’s. Hopefully it will do the same in this present crisis.

I don’t think I’m alone in my feeling towards this present American administration. I believe a pretty high percentage of Filipinos also feel the same. Americans know this or else their ambassador in the Philippines won’t bother do a PR and go all the way dancing the “boom-tarat-tarat” in that noon time show, much to the delight of viewers and its egotistical host. It doesn’t take that much to know where to tickle Pinoys, isn’t it?

Even with this temporary setback, I still believe US of A is the best example of democracy. Where else can you find a country with a white majority, elects a black person with a funny name to the highest position of the land? I hope what ever he does, keeps in mind the welfare of the majority. Because wither you believe me or not, his decision will affect us in someway.
----------------------------------------------oOo-----------------------------------------------


23 comments:

  1. In my opinion, Bush's biggest mistake was to place too much reliance on members of his administration such as Cheney and Rumsfeld even when the Iraq war was already going terribly wrong. He was too loyal to those people for some reason and he's paying a high price for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. from the title i thought its gloria lol nweiz for pinoys we have to wait one more year for a change in the govt. unless may pumatay kay ate glo. YES we CAN.liked ur post very much.at ang karikatura ni blogs astig HALA BIRA PWERA PASMA or di kaya RAYUMA lol peace!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Panaderos, true, these people are his daddy's cronies. The "frat mentality" was passed on to his son.

    mightydacz, LOL. At my age, I think it may be true. Should shout "Hala Bira! Pwera Rayuma!" : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Theres a Video that shows that on his back (bulging inside his coat) there is a kind of a miniature device that feed and dictate him on what he is going to say whenever he is on a meeting or press conference.That only shows he's really a dummy by somebody else behind this device.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If there is one that i envy with the Americans, it is that they use their brains when they vote (majority of them did not vote for Bush in the first place). How I wish we Pinoys could do the same. Btw, one that makes me sad is wasn't able to attend the Sinulog. Kainis! He he

    ReplyDelete
  6. Liked your article. I, too, am relieved. But I too am afraid sa kung ano ang kahihinatnan natin sa kamay ni Obama (at sa kamay ng kung sino man ang uupo sa 2010 sa Pinas) but I guess as what your caricature says: Hala bira!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whew!

    Okay... The elected person with that so-called funny name, has promised CHANGE! That's what he is always saying, but 'change' has a very broad meaning, and it is very subjective! Personally, (of course) I don't know what kind of 'change' is that. And you're right, Blogusvox; for me, his decisions will surely affect us in so many ways!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember my post about the Philippine independence equation months ago. http://witsandnuts.com/2008/06/11/assets-liabilities-capital-the-philippine-independence-equation/

    I like the caricature so much. Ang galing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. ed v., most likely, his VP, Dick Cheney. : )

    R-yo, yan ang hirap sa election sa tate, hindi by popularity but by state. And each state has points depending on its constituents. Kaya nakakalusot ang mga "lame duck" na katulad ni Bush dahil they concentrate on strategic states.

    Nebz, kahit gaano ka galing ni Obama, hindi nya masasangga ang krisis na to. All he could do is to soften the impact. Let's hope who ever replace Gloria e, kasing dunong nya but hindi kasing tuso.

    RJ, slogans are designed to garner votes. It's vague so later on he won't be accused of "not-doing-this" and "not-doing-that". All I'm asking is he govern justly or at least like Clinton.

    Ms.Jo, you should have waited and attend any of the festivals. Ang saya ng mga yun, lalo na ang Ati-atihan!

    ReplyDelete
  10. whatever happenings the USA have, everybody's affected. its not a trend that we follow.. not ev en a way of life, but that is just how it is.. even if its not how it should be, we cant do anything about it but just go with the flow and hope for the best.. be it good or bad, what America does and have definitely affects not just one country or one continent but the whole world.. im not sure if im making any sense here, just let my fingers do the typing.. ahihihi

    -passing by...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Na-miss ko tuloy ang Dinagyang, haaay naku. Hala Bira nga! Sayang din ang Sinulog, Hayyy uli...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello my friend, you'd been tagged.. Please see my blogspot..

    Here are the rules:
    Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules in your blog. Write 7 random things about yourself. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and link to them. Let each person know they've been tagged.

    ReplyDelete
  13. yAnaH, as the saying goes "When America sneezes, the whole world catches cold".

    sheng, ako rin, almost 7 years na akong hindi naka-attend ng Sto.Nino Festival.

    2L3B, thanks for tagging me, I'll do it later when things clear up. : )

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Iraq debacle is the one that the world will never forget. The immense loss of lives on the Americans let alone the thousands in Iraq was unnecessary. It was a very expensive gambit that only pleased the Saudis and the Kuwaitis.

    Bush can only hope that history will vindicate his Iraq invasion but by this reason alone as it stands today, his presidency was indeed a failure.

    ReplyDelete
  15. bw, At the beginning, the Iraq invasion has these two countries approval. But later regret it when they found out US can't handle the situation. You see, Iraq is a buffer for them against Iran. They'd rather lived with Saddam than with the Ayatollahs.

    ReplyDelete
  16. even our country can feel the relief brought about the change of leadership.

    i like your festival icon. hehehe... so cool! im watching those three festivals in the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  17. donG, me too. It's been a while since I've attended any of those festivals. Nakaka-homesick tuloy if you see the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am giving Obama the benefit of the doubt.. that's it! Oh, Blogusvox, I actually agree with you! Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  19. blogsurdities, all we could do is wait and see. Unfortunately for him, he begins his reign with a lot of crisis at hand.

    ReplyDelete
  20. agreeeeeeeee kudos to you my friend ganda ng post na toh.

    ReplyDelete
  21. TZ, salamat! Uy, dalawa na ang naniwala sa "rants" ko! : )

    ReplyDelete
  22. Frankly, I agree with you that democracy is REAL in the USA... also, I would not think that the foreign policies of President Obama would differ much from that of Bush.

    ReplyDelete
  23. blogsurdities, I don't see any changes in US foreign policy since the Spanish-American War. It doesn't matter who sits in the White House. Their dealings and decision outside the US will always be based on the interest of big American Corporations. To them its "business". That's why they are called "capitalist" and their armed forces always mention "they will protect the INTEREST of their country".

    ReplyDelete