“The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors. Let us not speak well of it either. Let us not speak of it at all.”
- Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot”
I left the apartment to hear the neighbor boy call out, “Barack! Obama!”
I glanced out to the side-street, wondering if this boy had seen Barack Obama, or saw a Barack Obama look-alike. The thought of this boy having a message of hope and change was something I set aside for now.
Out from the corner, I saw a dog. The dog barked, the boy called out “Barack!” The dog then entered the house’s gate with the boy, and the gate was bolted shut. The name of the dog was Barack Obama.
For someone who has been President of the United States of America for the better part of two days, many politicians seem to be keen on riding the Barack Obama bandwagon. You have folks like Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, who has been alluded to as “JoBama.” You have Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who yet again committed an act of hubris by saying that it is Gloria Arroyo who can teach a lot to a neophyte world leader like Obama. Now you have Margaux Salcedo, spokeswoman of former President Joseph Estrada, who says that if we’ll put charisma into the equation, it is Erap who should rightfully be called the Philippine Obama.
I can’t help but think of the whole hullaballoo in terms of dog’s names; when I was a kid, the most feared dogs were named “Bush,” and its rival was called “Saddam.” I kind of wonder how many Filipinos have named the loyal house pet “Barack,” but I hope you get my point. If a dog in this country can be named after the seated President of the United States of America, then what is the bone of contention? What is the squabbling all about?
What is so important about President Barack Obama that many of us look – or proclaim ourselves to be – the “Pinoy version” of Obama?
