What can we expect of a new US president

An older friend of mine, chronologically I mean, told me that sometime in the mid 60's, there was a movie entitled "The Ugly American". Its setting was somewhere in what is now known as a part of the Asean region. By reason of his advancing age, his memory of the plot of the film is rather vague. What is clear to him however, was the fact that when he saw it, it kind of startled him because it was his perception that Asians, especially Filipinos, loved the Americans so dearly that labeling them as "ugly" was more unthinkable than being only misplaced.

In my primary school years too, we celebrated our independence day on the 4th of July. I could recall vividly that part of the celebrations were words of thanks to the Americans for liberating us from the cruel regime of the Japanese. They usually flowed by the florid lips of war veterans whose glowing testimonies reaped all kinds of praises for the conduct of their Caucasian brothers-in-arms who offered lives that we could live in a democratic government. Whatever it meant, we were called the little brown Americans, perhaps attributing to our smaller physique and our proclivity for everything stateside.

There was a probable shift in relations taking shape at a later time. I could not surmise what caused the change of heart. Neither did I know what originated the emerging hatred against our liberators. When I joined the noisy throngs of student protestors, in my early college days, the Americans became the object of our youthful harangues. "Down with the imperialists", I shouted on the streets. Sure, my parents respected my freedom of expression including my mouthing of socialist lines, but they never failed to counsel me with the caution that it was safer to bet on the side of US.

Maybe the Americans believe that they have been anointed as either as the policemen of the world or the vanguards (and also the rear guards) of democracy. Or, owing to the fact that they patrol the international seas seemingly unchallenged, they may have also become cocky. Their international actions can be explained in any case. So we can see that wherever in the world where there are threats against their perceived friendly administrators, they are unabashed to send their "protection" or support.

In helping the regime of then South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, they plunged deep into the unpopular Vietnam war. It was in the process of propping up of the regime of Shah Rezah Pavlavi of Iran, that they committed their forces against the swelling Islamic crowd marshaled by Ayatollah Khomeini. To fill the political void left by the retreating Russians, they sent thousands of their armed forces to Afghanistan.

As the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama, the Americans expect (and must see) a fundamental change in their international politics. After all, "change" was the successful political battle cry of their incoming president. Their approach (to changing world situations) of few decades has to be revisited and their philosophies re-examined. It will not surprise me if topping the agenda is how to repair their international image. Their military superiority notwithstanding, they cannot afford to continue the creeping sentiment of their being more "the ugly American" than a friend.

It will be good for our own government leaders to prepare the Philippine strategy in anticipation of this shift of American policy. While our republic has had, for years on end, no better option than being supportive of American efforts in this part of the world, it is good to see what changes have to be adopted so that we will not be left unprotected by the shifting sands of political change.

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