[This is one of several posts that Philip drafted but didn't publish. Enjoy. -- Louie - August 28, 2011]
It dawned on me today: it’s been a year since the election of Barack Obama as president.
It seems so long ago. But I suppose that bit of relativism has been true all these years: Time crawls when things things are difficult, when we wish the present would pass quickly.
I know there were many almost-fanatical Filipinos who practically prayed to Obama. I’m sorry…all I can do now is point a finger at them and say “Mali kayo, ano?“
Let the record speak for itself…
He promised transparency. He has become a master of opacity and his mastery has rubbed off on Democrats in Congress.
He promised he would “reach out.” Instead he — and his congressional cronies — have “pushed out” any Republicans from planning and discussion of every major issue from the stimulus package to health care reform.
He promised “no more pork barrel.” His stimulus package includes at least 1,100 instances of pork for his congressional cronies — including, for example, $99,600 for doorbells for 632 units of the Laurel, MS Housing Authority. That’s $157 per unit!
It’s time we all come back down to earth. Obama is NOT the messiah he wanted to be. He has been president for 10 months. He has accomplished nothing. He spent more than $1 Billion in stimulus money, and unemployment rose from 8% to 10.2%. He forgot — he was supposed to stimulate employment and not unemployment.
It’s time we remembered the political Camelot with its original characters — John and Jackie Kennedy. Someone should tell Michelle Obama she’s no Jackie. With her $600 sneakers she’s more of an Imelda, it seems.
Someone should remind Obama we drove Marcos out with People Power. He’s very quickly building his oligarchic crony base and making them richer and richer.
