High Hopes for Obama

Posted by smclherald on May 30, 2009 · 3 Comments 

BELTRAN

DISTORTED

BY SOPHIA ALELI BELTRAN

Change they need, change they did. Or did they?

It was February 10, 2007 when he first announced his U.S. Presidential candidacy. On January 20, 2009, he will be sworn as the 44th President of the United States.

High hopes surged for people desperate for significant changes in the country they live in—abolition of discrimination, more jobs for people, and a generally more self-reliant nation—just as former Illinois-based Junior Senator Barack

Obama promised.

But can he be trusted?

It may be interesting to join in the hubbub with people who rooted for Obama, but the question is: what good will it serve us Filipinos?

Widely known is the fact that former U.S. President George Bush used to go to college with our President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This served as a bond that united our country with theirs, building bridges to connect our people together. Hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas were made available, and salaries of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) gave our economy a mighty boost.

That was then.

Now, though, it still remains a question whether or not we shall be given the same privileges as before. Bush had been helpful enough to our country, but will Obama be the same?

Many OFWs work in the USA, and many would-be OFWs prefer the latter as their destination.

If, as stated in Obama’s  agenda, the US were to produce their own workers, then what would happen to the rest of the world’s workers who are ceaselessly hoping for mighty America to save them from poverty?

For instance, here in the Philippines, where decent-paying jobs are running out, if not scarce.

Today, the U.S.is facing serious difficulties one after another. They really can’t afford to waste the chance for them to actually earn for themselves, even if it meant having foreign workers lose potential jobs to their American counterparts.

Now that majority of their population had chosen the man with mighty dreams for his homeland and his alone, will we still be able to continue our close relations with the U.S.?

Dreams mean nothing if not acted upon. If he does, though, it poses a potential problem for many countries, ours included, who actively share in the U.S.’s wealth.

On the other hand, Bush ended his period in office with the U.S. problematic, and now Americans chose Obama to pick up all the former’s loose ends.

And if he fails to fix whatever Bush left broken as soon as possible, who knows what his people will say then?

Maybe it isn’t fair for everyone to leave the U.S. in crisis in his hands, and then expect him to make everything better again immediately.

The U.S. is made up of 50 states with approximately 305 million residents.

What change can a single person make if nobody else will help him make it?

People always used to say that there is strength in numbers, and certain events in our rich history attest to that. In light of the U.S. Presidential elections, Barack Hussein Obama II serves as living proof that being in unity with other people is one thing, but leading other people in unity is something else.

May he never fail those who believed in him.

May he prove that they made the right decision in choosing him all along.

He is only one man, after all.

Filed under Opinion, TMH College · Tagged with column, distorted, Opinion, sophia aleli beltran