Kakampi ni GMA ang Langit

"Great men talk about ideas; Mediocre men talk about things; Small men talk about people," said Admiral Hyman Rickover.

Was Rey Langit in the same league of small men who would rather inquire into what people think of other people when he asked both Presidents---Obama and Arroyo---about their impressions of each other?

The President-eject

For political correctness's sake, President Obama, before he took his oath of office, was referred to as President-elect. Although it is obvious that there's no stopping Obama from taking the helm of US leadership, as Bush the Younger can not veto the inauguration day, and thus the former deserved to be called President, Obama is still addressed as President-elect until he is properly sworn into office.

But what do you call a person who has never been a President since 2004 but who acts like one, and whose mandate is severely questioned?

And yes, I am talking about GMA's staying in power. President-eject is perhaps an apt title.

The indefatigable anti-corruption crusader

It is no small irony that while Obama advised his good friend GMA to stop clinging to power through corruption and deceit, the latter has already been laboring to end corruption in the Philippines and bring down the shenanigans.

"Our investments also include essential ways to strengthen our institutions of governance in order to fight the decades-old scourge of corruption," she said in her 2008 State of the Nation Address. "I will continue to fight this battle every single day. While others are happy with headlines through accusation without evidence and privilege speeches without accountability, we have allocated more than P3 billion – the largest anti-graft fund in our history – for real evidence gathering and vigorous prosecution."

If that were true, why, as reported in the news, the US Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) just won't give economic assistance to the Philippines until it curbs corruption?

Let's be prudent when it comes to Obama

Obama won. And the rest of the world is happy, nay, euphoric.

World leaders rushed to congratulate the president-elect. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wasn't lucky enough to have a word or two with Obama. To Amando Doronila, the seasoned and cerebral analyst of Inquirer, it is a sign that he [Obama] is not RP's friend. He said:

The sidelining of the Arroyo call gave a glimpse of the importance of the Philippines to the United States at the moment of change of administration. It is clear that the Philippines stands on the outer permiter of US concerns in world affairs.

If we were to believe Doronila's thesis, then let's exercise some prudence in lavishing Obama with praises, no matter how meaningfully symbolic or symbolically meaningful is Obama's victory to us; no matter how good an Obama presidency might be for our economy, as Prof. Cielito Habito asserted. Doronila concluded:

It is important that Manila should rearrange its priorities vis-à-vis Washington. Obama is not our friend.