All is quiet...

...in all fronts. #ElectionNight
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by PAM


It's the proverbial 'calm before the storm'.  Or, is it the 'calm morn after a stormy night'?

In the blue corner, Sec. Hillary Clinton - the 'veteran' of US politics; the potentially first woman President of the United States of America (USA)... and yet, she talks and brawls like a man.  In the red corner, Mr. Donad Trump - the eccentric 'Washington outsider' and business mogul who had no qualms about expressing his racist, sexist and anti-semitic views, among many other vile opinions.

People all around the world - whether they admit it or not - are biting their nails as they stare at the poll figures in the race to the White House.  The world holds its collective breath... not exactly knowing what to hope for.  Not that the White House is anything significant to all, at least, no more than what it represents for the longest time: power, influence, and all sorts of opportunities reserved for the 'most powerful' country in the world.  Yes, 'for the longest time', indeed.  The incumbent US President, Barack Obama, changed that.  

President Obama has been hugely criticized by many Americans for being "weak" and making the USA slump to all-time low since its climb to become a 'superpower', allowing "new powers", such as China and the "new" Russia, to rise and rival USA's global leadership.  They have risen to almost equal footing as the United States of America, economically (for China) and in political influence.  And yet, that

There is light at the end of the dark tunnel of bitter campaign.

seeming 'weakening' of USA brought 'global balance' - a term always used by President Obama... although, admittedly, most of the world was not used to such balance and didn't know what to do with some power being handed over by President Obama to be shared with the world.  And, by sharing that power, I'm sure President Obama also expected that the global community would share the responsibility of taking care of the world and its citizens.  Others are just too thankful to receive this power and take this responsibility with much humility... and yet, others who covet absolute power grabbed the 'gift' like an entitlement without a care of the responsibility that goes with it!  I'm sure President Obama knew what a precarious ledge he walked as he makes these concessions - although, he, with all sorts of good intentions, I expect, believes that there is not a single country that should possess such enormous power that puts it above all others.  And that any sort of huge global influence should be rooted on values... and compassion to humanity, rather than on military and economic might.  And, one's love for one's country does not necessarily mean amassing excessive amount of wealth fro itself in a world where many go to sleep hungry, and lording over the whole population as a hulking power.  

The Obama administration put its money where its mouth is as far as its international commitment is concerned.  In my own country, especially in the education sector where I

Fulbright-Philippine Agriculture Alumni Association, making a
difference in the local agriculture sector.

belong, I feel the positive impact of his view of American leadership.  I see how the aid/assistance extended to the education sector by the USA has been making a world of difference to the quality of education in my country... making the road to self-sufficiency visible in the horizon.  It's a wonderful way to forge friendship built on true equality between two sovereign nations.  But, of course, not all of us in my own country view President Obama's action in the same way I do. Obviously, many Americans do not share President Obama's views either... many feel that the concessions have been compromising their own welfare, dropping them behind from the progress caravan.  They could be right.  And yet, President Obama insists that progress does not necessarily mean not working as hard as the Americans' ancestors for privileges that they wish to enjoy.  Then again, he is a "global citizen" who actually experienced first hand the plight of people from countries not as progressive as the USA... and he might be forcing his values to a country so wrapped up in its own greatness - inherited from hardworking immigrants that the man in the red corner seems to despise;  a country that is not ready to embrace the 'flattening' of global power and the interdependencies of nations that render the world upright.

In a few hours, when the election returns stop moving, and freeze to put a stamp on history books, the world will know which parts of the USA, and which fraction of American population, think in the same way, or differently, as President Obama.  That is, assuming that President Obama's still reliable popularity is transferable to the woman in the blue corner. And, yes, in the near future, we shall see which belief is best for the world.  

In the meantime, we narrow our eyes towards the light at the end of the tunnel, and watch as a country in conflict with itself decide how it wishes to lead itself as it pushes through the dark tunnel of bitter and divisive campaign.

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