After several months of gruelling and controversial campaign trail, Senator Barrack Obama of Illinois, beats Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and claims the much coveted Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Party of the United States. The much-anticipated culmination of the highly contested 54-primaries elections series happened Tuesday night at Minnesota shortly after the last primary elections at South Dakota and Montana were concluded. In his speech before the Minnesota crowd, Obama confidently declared, “I will be the Democratic nominee” which was met by thunderous cheers and applause from thousands of supporters and election delegates.

This nomination win for Obama is a historical event, since he’s  holding the distinction as the first Black American Presidential candidate (and possibly the first Black American President) after more than two centuries. Hillary Clinton, his nominee rival on the other hand, refuses to publicly concede the race, though some of her aides have hinted her inclination to take a Vice Presidential slot. This should be an interesting twist but I guess we will all have to wait for the final word from Sen. Clinton in the coming days.

In the mean time, John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate acknowledges Obama’s win and welcomes his “formidable opponent” to the general election campaign. Obama will obviously benefit from the very unpopular policies of the current Republican President Bush and McCain will have to work harder to distance himself from Bush and his policies. Many observers say that whoever Bush endorses, will surely lose. It’s really going to be a tough ballgame for McCain who will not only be facing a formidable opponent in the person of Obama but will have to work doubly hard to rebuild the image of the Republicans, possibly announce major shifts in policies, if not completely abandon or outrightly condemn some of Bush’s unpopular policies, which he in fact has started doing.

In my opinion, the Obama-vs-Clinton duel was far more interesting than the upcoming Obama-vs-McCain and my fearless prediction is a landslide by Obama. The next important question now is: Is America and the rest of the world ready for a Black American President?

Tags: 2008 US Presidential Elections,Barrack Obama,George W. Bush,Hillary Clinton,John McCain,Obama-Clinton,Politics,world politics
Categories: News, Politics
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Forty-four days after former Philippine President Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada has been convicted by the Sandiganbayan guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of plunder, the deposed President is now set to accept and sign the order of executive clemency issued last night by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, current President of the Philippines. Previously, the legal team representing Erap withdrew the Motion for Reconsideration which they filed 15 days after the conviction was promulgated, and instead sent a petition letter to GMA asking for presidential pardon. The lady President didn’t waste time and just a few days after, issued the clemency with a condition that Mr. Estrada will distance himself from politics from hereon.

When the conviction first came out in September 12, 2007, I surely believed that an executive pardon is far from happening, at least not in the next 4 years, not when GMA is still the President. I was dead wrong, because it didn’t even take 4 months, but barely 44 days and now the “agreement” is a done deal.

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Tags: Erap Estrada,executive clemency,Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,Joseph Estrada,Philippines,plunder,Politics,presidential pardon
Categories: News, Pinoy Life, Politics
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