EDITORIAL - Will Rama get it this time?

Mayor Tomas Osmeña is no longer just having second-thoughts about Vice Mayor Michael Rama becoming the standard-bearer of their BOPK party in the 2010. He has actually reached that point where he now wants Rama totally out of the picture.

This is apparent in the way Osmeña suddenly changed tack in dealing with the problem. Osmeña used to humiliate Rama in public. But Rama is so obsessed with becoming mayor that he exhibited an uncanny willingness to suffer the humiliation so as not to offend Osmeña.

What Rama has not realized is that Osmeña never wanted him as successor but was only forced to anoint him as a ploy to buy time during which to take the public pulse on which Osmeña should truly make a bid for the mayorship on his departure.

For the game has never been about the kind of leadership but by who. Anyone can get to leadership qualities later. But one has to be a leader first. And for Osmeña, finding Rama in the mayor’s seat is already too late for all Osmeñas.

Also, Osmeña did not want to be perceived as either greedy or treacherous at a time when politicians are supposed to start courting votes. So he had to pretend to adhere to the time-honored practices concerning political succession.

But you know the time for playing subtle and coy is up. Osmeña himself cannot waste too much time making people play the guessing game. He has to start opening the can now. And the surest sign that his sentiments lay elsewhere is when he starts hitting Rama’s girlfriend.

As said earlier, Rama is so obsessed with the mayorship he is willing to endure anything Osmeña would hurl against him. But how long do you really think he can keep his cool when Osmeña starts flogging his girlfriend, former councilor Joy Pesquera.

The new tack employed by Osmeña has placed Rama in a bind. If he endures some more when the moment calls for him to be gallant, such a sign of weakness will eventually wreak havoc on his chances for mayor.

Worse, it might give Pesquera reason to doubt the willingness of Rama to protect her from harm. The method employed by Osmeña is both unfair and foul, of course, but it could serve the purpose of finally getting rid of Rama, something he had been aching to do but couldn’t.