Editorial
Philstar.com - Monday, February 9
President Arroyo had a wide grin as she chatted with new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But the former US first lady, a celebrity in her own right, was no Barack Obama, the US counterpart of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In our country, no head of state or government drops by without a talk with the Philippine president. Not so in the United States, where many world leaders have addressed the United Nations in New York or visited other parts of the country without ever meeting their American counterpart. And so Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast last week in Washington, seemingly blissfully unaware that at a nearby table sat the Philippine president. Obama greeted the keynote speaker, former British prime minister Tony Blair, delivered his speech and left.
President Arroyo, who was seated beside US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, later chatted with the lawmakers who pushed the inclusion of the compensation for Filipino war veterans in Obama’s multibillion-dollar stimulus fund – a move that has come under fire from certain quarters in the US.
In our country, no head of state or government drops by without a talk with the Philippine president. Not so in the United States, where many world leaders have addressed the United Nations in New York or visited other parts of the country without ever meeting their American counterpart. And so Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast last week in Washington, seemingly blissfully unaware that at a nearby table sat the Philippine president. Obama greeted the keynote speaker, former British prime minister Tony Blair, delivered his speech and left.
President Arroyo, who was seated beside US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, later chatted with the lawmakers who pushed the inclusion of the compensation for Filipino war veterans in Obama’s multibillion-dollar stimulus fund – a move that has come under fire from certain quarters in the US.
Was that trip worth it? Certainly Filipinos join Americans in praying for swift recovery from the worst economic crisis to hit the United States since the Great Depression. But in these difficult times, did Filipino taxpayers have to be burdened with the first-class globetrotting by the President and her retinue? Obama, grappling with the crisis, skipped the World Economic Forum in Davos. Not so President Arroyo, who went on to Italy from Switzerland, and then to Bahrain. Malacañang originally announced that the President was rushing to Washington from Bahrain because there was a chance that she could chat with Obama at the prayer breakfast. She emerged from the gathering without so much as a wave of acknowledgment from Obama, much less that coveted photo op.
This latest blow came on the heels of several attempts by President Arroyo to talk with Obama by phone – first when he was still a candidate, and then several times after his victory. She also tried to meet with him in the US, when he was still a candidate and again shortly after he won. When he went to Illinois after his election, she proceeded there ostensibly to meet with the Filipino community.
Perhaps President Arroyo could pass on the blame to whoever raised her hopes that a chat with Obama, and even a photo op, could be possible in Washington. But in the end, if people are now referring to her as a stalker of Obama, she has no one but herself to blame. -
(Philstar News Service, http://www.philstar.com/)
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