We cannot fail, Mr. President! By Ronald Roy COMMENT 07/01/2010

We cannot fail, Mr. President!

By Ronald Roy COMMENT 07/01/2010 After administering the oath of office to President Benigno Aquino III, Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Morales-Carpio might have said while shaking hands with the new Chief Executive: “Save us, Mr. President, save us!”And he might have answered: “I’ll try my best, Madam Justice, I’ll try my best!” That wee bit of dialog would have been a most refreshing way to punctuate the inaugural rite in a departure from the hackneyed and the prosaic — not that it would have presaged a difference in Noynoy’s discharge of presidential duties for the next six years — because it will not. But it would have opened the door for an imperative reformist socio-political agenda for the next quarter of a century. Anyway, let me join the nation in glorious jubilation, savoring every moment of it until the daunting work begins. Wow! I still don’t believe it! Noynoy Aquino, President of the Republic of the Philippines! “Mabuhay kayo, kagalang-galang na Pangulo. Nawa’y matupad ang inyong mga pangako! Pero baka hindi po makakaya, gaya ng sinabi ninyo.” After a nine-year misrule by a gnome and her horde of dragons, we can only look at Noynoy’s story like a fairytale — a knight in shining armor mounted on a white horse, descending from a cloud to slay and drive away these monsters. As in all cases of a new president, the expectations are high. But there’s the rub. President Aquino has declared his six-year term will most likely “not be enough to make a difference.” I would agree with you, Mr. President, if you meant it would be like sweeping away Smokey Mountain overnight. And I would agree that only the fictional Superman (not even Albert Einstein) could do that. And I certainly would agree you are not the Clark Kent who is impervious to all weapons of mass destruction, with the exception of kryptonite. But I disagree history would rate you a failure if that heap of garbage stayed around for the next six years.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100701com5.html

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