Obama, first Pinoy US President?

Published January 29, 2008
INQUIRER.net

Oh, all right, so he’s not Filipino. But he did live in Indonesia which is close enough, right? He also grew up in Hawaii, a state where the Pinoy community is huge and has even had a Pinoy governor.

And if the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison can claim that Bill Clinton was the first African American president, well, I should be able to make a similarly wild claim about Barack Obama. I mean he looks Pinoy, doesn’t he? He could very well be Pareng Barack.

In any case, Obama has turned the 2008 US Presidential race into one of the most exciting in decades. On Sunday, Jan.27, he won a decisive victory over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in South Carolina in the battle for the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination. The biggest contest in the battle for the Democratic nomination will be held on Feb. 5, so-called Super Tuesday or Tsunami Tuesday, when about two dozen states, including California and New York, will hold their primaries. The Republican contenders are campaigning for the 1,191 delegates needed to be nominated.

For immigrants and persons of color like me in America, Obama’s rise on the political stage is exciting and historic. He’s clearly brilliant, passionate about social issues many people care about and has shown that he can inspire people. That’s important at a time when there’s much cynicism and hopelessness in American society.

Let me stop here to say I have long ago stopped idealizing leaders here in America or back home in the Philippines. How many times have leaders who appeared to be a beacon of hope turn into just another political opportunist with a hidden agenda – or a flashy symbol who ended up unable to live up to the challenges and pressures of leadership?

We’ve learned the hard way in our own recent history that neither popularity and charm nor advanced degrees and a prestigious family name automatically translate to integrity and competence. I can think of only one person who I believe would have made a great Philippine president, but sadly never had the chance: the late Sen. Pepe Diokno.

Now, I’m not completely cynical about leaders and leadership. When Nelson Mandela first toured the United States after being released from prison, a friend of mine in Washington DC wrote me about attending one of the rallies, and being inspired and awed by Mandela’s story. Here was a political figure that spent more than a quarter century in prison and endured untold abuses from a racist government, yet emerged from his ordeal un-embittered and strong enough to lead his country to a new era. My friend sadly lamented how no one like Mandela has emerged in US politics for many years.

It was around that time that Bill Clinton was elected president. That was certainly an exciting time. After eight years of Ronald Reagan and four of the first George Bush, there was finally a “progressive” president in the White House. Clinton took on many important social and economic issues, from health care to welfare and education. But then came the scandals and the compromises. It got tiring after a while.

Hillary Clinton is not her husband, of course, in spite of his growing role in her campaign. And it’s certainly equally exciting to think of the US having its first woman president. (See how the US is not as politically advanced as one would suppose? The Philippines has already had two woman presidents.)In the battle with Obama, Clinton has portrayed herself as more experienced. That’s true. And to be sure, experience is important. Unlike Obama, Clinton already knows what it’s like to deal with a hostile Congress, negotiate with adversaries, anticipate their moves and even neutralize and defeat them. She knows how to work the system and yes, that’s important.

But often, experience also translates to “more debts to pay back.” In any context, any politician who has been around a long time typically owes many favors. They have more baggage weighing them down.

That’s one advantage Obama has. He’s a newbie, which means he’s less experienced, which also makes him less likely to get bogged down by all the favors and deal-making a veteran politician like Clinton has had to chalk up over the past three decades as First Lady and later as senator.

Still, like I said, I have long ago accepted the fact that leaders like Mandela come only once in a lifetime. In fact, the campaign has already exposed some of Obama’s warts. There’s the question of his ties to what has been portrayed as a Chicago slumlord who was one of his major supporters.

Then there was his controversial statement about Ronald Reagan. He has stressed that he was merely pointing out Regan’s ability to inspire Americans across party lines in the 1980s, and was not endorsing his policies. Still it’s puzzling to many why he would invoke the name of a former president whose social and economic problems wreaked havoc on US society in the 1980s. Analysts have speculated that he was trying to reach out to Republicans, which is good and noble. That would certainly help him win.

But I worry about any political candidate who appears to be trying to please everyone. Usually – and we’ve seen this happen over and over again in the Philippines – those who rise to power on the strength of a very broad coalition sometimes end up yielding to the forces with the greatest power and influence inside that political tent. For Filipinos, of course, Reagan (as well as his vice president, the first George Bush) is also remembered for being the staunch ally and good buddy of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

So it would seem this early that Obama is no Mandela. He makes mistakes and will probably make more. The big question is: Will he show that he knows how to learn from them and manage to move forward?

Still, his message of hope and change is powerful. It’s moving tens of thousands of Americans to support him and become politically engaged. That’s important right now, as a cloud of gloom hangs over US society. And for countries like the Philippines and people of color in the United States, his background as an African American, who has lived in Asia and a very diverse state like Hawaii, would hopefully make him more sensitive to, and perhaps even more deeply aware of the issues affecting poor countries and minorities in America.

In the United States, this is even more critical at a time when there are cynical and even venomous voices once again blaming immigrants for many of America's problems. While anti-immigration advocates claim to target only those who are here illegally, as a brown-skinned, dark-haired immigrant who speaks English with an accent, I, too, have felt the attacks against Asians and Latinos accused of stealing jobs, feeding off welfare and using up resources.

Sadly, some Filipinos respond with their own brand of bigotry, the sort I heard many years ago in the conversation between two Filipino women riding a Mission Street bus. They were discussing immigration in Tagalog, confident that the other Asians and Latinos would not understand them.

"It's those Mexicans," one of them said. "There are so many of them coming here."

"And those Chinese, too, those who come here by boat," the other chimed in.

To some extent, supporting Obama would be a way of paying tribute to the African Americans and other minorities (including many Filipino Americans and Asian Americans) who have endured earlier periods of rejection and hate and those who struggled for many of the rights we now enjoy and use to defend ourselves. This would also be a way to honor the sacrifices of people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Paul Robeson. It’s time to give a person of color (or a woman) a chance to serve in the White House.

Of course, Obama would say he should be judged based on his record and abilities, not his race. I agree with others who’ve said they would vote for Obama because he’s qualified. But also because he is a person of color, his victory would be a giant step forward.

It could all be a mistake of course. Like past presidents Obama could end up compromising and cutting deals for political reasons. That’s where the experience question comes in. How will Obama react to the attacks, the temptations, the incredible pressures of the US presidency? We won’t know that until later.

But the last eight years have been so messed up and there’s so much uncertainty in America and the world right now that supporting a political newcomer with a daring and inspiring vision and incredible appeal makes the chance worth taking.

Copyright 2008 by Benjamin Pimentel