Scars

Theres The Rub
by Conrado de Quiros
from Philippine Daily Inquirer

AFTER JOHN MCCAIN CONCEDED TO Barack Obama, Obama went out to a cheering and tearful crowd—the tears, courtesy of Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey—and began: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

After Manny Villar, Gibo Teodoro and Richard Gordon conceded to Noynoy Aquino, Noynoy went out to a grasping and grieving crowd—the first, courtesy of the “trapos” and the second, of the mourners of the dead (it was a wake he went to)—and began, “I believe Mar Roxas will win over Jojo Binay by a hairline.”

Unless he does things a little differently, and soon, Noynoy might end up as the Philippine version of the Dubya David Letterman used to satirize in his show. Particularly the part where he shows FDR saying, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself,” JFK saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you,” and George W. saying, “Aah, I think when my father-in-law visited….”

What exactly is wrong about Noynoy’s proposition, apart from it being a fall from the sublime to the paralytic?

One, he really shouldn’t be drawing attention to hairlines, other than in a facetious and self-mocking tone. Which alone shows that couldn’t have been his choice of words.

Two, it’s plain unfair. At the very least it’s graceless. On one side, there’s the leading candidate in the vice-presidential count, Jojo Binay, making all sorts of overtures, vowing loyalty and cooperation once he is proclaimed winner, and on the other there’s the victorious candidate in the presidential race repeatedly scorning it, suggesting by way of subtext, “No way you can be my vice president.” It’s a gratuitous insult, or provocation, to someone who was loyal to Cory (he spoke at her necrological rites, a thing he could not have done had one family member objected to it) and never did anything to harm her own.

At the very most it flies in the face of reality. All the tallies, official and unofficial, all the exit polls, reputable and disreputable, say Binay is winning by close to a million votes. Only the Liberal Party’s count says otherwise, based on returns so secret only they know about it. Their suggestion is that Binay is winning only either by trending or cheating, a suggestion refuted by the simple question, “How?” How can Binay be in a position to trend or cheat? He’s not exactly a dear friend of Gloria or Ronnie or Norberto. Ask them who is.

All Noynoy has to say as president-elect is: “Let us wait for the results. The people’s voice is the only voice I’ll listen to.” You can’t understand why he does not.

Three, it compromises him. What happens if Binay is proclaimed the winner of the vice presidential elections as he looks headed to be? And what happens if Mar Roxas’s camp cries foul, or that they were cheated, as they look headed to do? That will put him in a bind.

Is he going to say he will refuse to be sworn in beside the new vice president just as he said he would refuse to be sworn in before the new chief justice? That is piling one controversy on top of another, and he hasn’t even begun. At least in the case of Renato Corona, he can always find a principle to support his stand. In this case, what principle is there? The elections were completely credible except the vice presidential one? Everyone was perfectly above board except Binay? It’s inflicting unnecessary pain on oneself, going out on a limb for a group of people who never went out on a limb for him. Indeed, who nearly cost him his campaign but for luck and (last-minute) pluck.

Or is he going to mount an Edsa and storm the ramparts of tyranny for the very people who never believed in Edsa and storming the ramparts of tyranny?

And last, it is a fall from the sublime to the paralytic. Of course Noynoy has his own personality and prefers a more folksy style to the soaring rhetoric of Obama. Which I like by the way, it suits him perfectly, he communicates best when he is telling a story, even if he gets carried away sometimes. But it is one thing to be down-to-earth, it is another to be stuck in the mud.

He doesn’t have to plagiarize Obama, though that seems to be in vogue these days (plagiarizing, though not of Obama, only of Oprah), but he can always share his sentiments. His road has been long and arduous too. His campaign has been heroic and epoch-making too. His victory has been nothing short of miraculous too, two improbable candidates with two improbable names accomplishing it.

Noynoy could have said: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that a people’s resolve can make anything possible, who still wonders if the Impossible Dream of our forebears is still alive in our time, who still questions the power of People Power, today is your answer.”

One can understand that Noynoy is still staring at the astounding reality of being president with disbelief. Only a year ago, he was, like Simba, carousing with friends and singing “Hakuna, Matata,” it’s a worry-free philosophy, only to be thrust with the death of his mother into the maelstrom of his destiny. He is the Lion King now, but unlike the Lion King, who first had to vanquish his mortal enemy Scar, the archfiend who kept pretending to be his “archfriend” (and “archguide”), to become so, Noynoy will have to fight his Scar now that he is so. That is the only way he can truly become lion. That is the only way he can truly become king.

He will have to have the scars to prove it.