Any promise gauge, or promise keeper?

Lately, a juicy newsbit came out in the wake of Barack Obama’s promise-laden ascendancy to the White House: “Obameter keeps track of Obama campaign promises”.

The St. Petersburg Times of Florida assumes as self-appointed watchdog of some 500 promises made by Obama. It covers his presidential quest starting from the Democratic nomination state primaries until the presidential electoral campaign.

Some “obameter” stats are the “Kept” promise, like naming at least one Republican cabinet member; “Stalled”, to include his vague Afghanistan plan; “In the Works”, like the vow to close down Guantanamo Bay detention center of global terrorist suspects; and, “No Action” as yet on most 500 promises as of Obama’s assumption last January 20.

It’s a blast what this countdown gauge reveals on the fulfillment of Barack’s profuse promises. His main theme is “change”, that is, from the perceived wimpy ineptitude of Dubya Bush – plus fractured English and malapropisms.

His boo-boos are sampled by the Iraq War, his shunning most nations over the climate change as first espoused in the Kyoto Protocol, his late reaction to Hurricane Katrina calamity in New Orleans, and the worsening US economy triggered by the subprime mortgage fiasco, unchecked during his watch.

Citing the popular slogan that defines Lloyd’s of London, thus: “From needles to battleships”, it’s not an exaggeration that Filipinos always ape what Americans do almost in anything. As the saying goes, there’s no better way than what “our American brothers” do and practice. In fact, we pride ourselves as the Americans’ “little brown brothers”, and ours is on a “special” relationship with America in government, lifestyle, diplomacy, and what have we.

And so, one gets stoned if no similar project is in the offing to copy St. Petersburg Times’ “Obameter”. And why not?

Some NGO or enterprising acronym-minded group may put up a Filipino version of the “Obameter”. Trust them to choose an apt term, say, “arroyo-metro”, or “GMA watch list”, or “promise countdown”, or something more catchy or ingeniously unique.

GMA herself has had made a host of promises, like, eradicating graft and corruption, not running for election to buy peace, putting finis to the insurgency, the last of which has been reiterated to be in 2010 to coincide with her Palace exit, and also to end the internecine conflicts with the Muslims. And there were a lot more, like, emancipating the poor from abject poverty, cut down rice importation and be rice self-sufficient.

Whether such promises have been fulfilled fully, or partly, or promises broken, it’s quite an eye-opener of sorts. With politics as the prevailing passion and obsession of the nation – what with the now built-in electoral exercise every 3 years – it’s also a snap to adopt that promise gauge, or political promise watch for other government officials, including the LGUs.

In fact, LGU elected officials have to keep in mind what promises they had made during their election campaign. And what promises they have so far faithfully fulfilled, and what other promises to keep.

As that famous American poem – was it Swift Afton or something else? – that versifies its natural role of flowing and unceasing because it has a lot of promises to keep. And so, for Filipino politicians, better keep some form of promise-meter to keep track of what promises have been made good against those still to keep.

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