Captain Barbel for President

The countdown is 34:9:18:13 till the 2010 elections. So far the leading contenders are Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, and Erap Estrada. While I have some strong urge to laugh and cry at the same time at the mention of Erap Estrada for president again, let's leave it for now, I'm trying to have an unbiased perspective for the moment. Other presidentiables are Gibo Teodoro, Dick Gordon, Eddie Villanueva, JC de los Reyes, Jamby Madrigal, Nicanor Perlas and Vetallano Acosta.

How many of us are actually trying to have a thorough understanding of what makes these candidates tick? How many of us are trying to understand the ills of our country today independent of our own personal woes? And how many of us are actually thinking through whether promises made prior to elections are doable or not?

Presidentiable debates are not to see whether a candidate is articulate or not. It is to see whether their platforms actually make sense and whether they have a clear idea of what they are going to do to solve the issues that plague our country.

Some promise that they are the answer to the problem of unemployment, poverty, corruption, etc. But did they actually enumerate at least a clear idea about how they are going to do these?

Let's try to have a clear perspective about our choices of who we want to be president for the next six years. Let us not be blinded by claims to pretigious parents, claims to be the answer to poverty, claims that they can solve the ills of this country in one term. The running of a country is not a one man job. We are all responsible. Let us not expect that one man can solve our woes while we sit down and do nothing.

We are each responsible. Let us vote wisely and not let ourselves be swept off of our feet by superheroic promises of change. Because otherwise we might as well vote Captain Barbel for president.