Three aspects of the presidency

The Long View
by Manuel L. Quezon III
from Philippine Daily Inquirer

LISTENING to last Saturday’s Presidential forum in De La Salle Zobel, where Benigno Aquino III, Richard Gordon, Gilbert Teodoro and Manuel Villar Jr. answered a series of punchy questions expertly presented by Mike Enriquez, something Dr. Jose Abueva told me kept coming back to my mind.

If we assume that the presidency as an office is molded as much by the personalities and vision of individuals, as it is by the rules imposed by the Constitution and tradition, then pondering the answers given by the candidates requires an insight into the potential that acquiring presidential office represents not just for the candidates but the country.

Dr. Abueva points to three aspects—three potentials—of the presidency, that we should bear in mind. Several years ago, in our book on Malacañan Palace, I described it as “prize, pulpit and stage”: a prize, as power is contested and fought for, symbolized by a new administration moving in; a pulpit, because of the manner in which presidents can nudge public opinion toward great goals and national ideals; and a stage, because it’s where the panoply of governance plays out.

Abueva adopts a similar perspective.

First, a president, he says, can be “A Great Teacher.” By personal example and the manner in which he wields the powers of the office, a president can demonstrate leadership and not just undertake management of the executive branch. There is a deep difference between the two, and the public ideally has to identify the candidate who can lead, while being able to create a team that can manage things well.

Much has been made of Barack Obama’s enthusiasm for the book “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s account of how Abraham Lincoln turned a divided cabinet composed of strong personalities with ideas not only very different from his own, but skeptical of his character and abilities, into a team that ended up loyally serving him and whose members became his admirers.

He did this knowing the encumbrances of the job. Lincoln famously remarked, concerning the legions of politicians besieging presidents for the pork barrel and patronage, that his daily dilemma was “too many piglets, too few teats.” And yet even as patronage was par for the course for any political job, it didn’t dominate his presidency or his subordinates’ or the public’s perception of how he viewed his office and wielded his office.

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