It would seem Mitt Romney didn’t know what hit him. He was so confident of victory, he had only prepared a victory speech. But soon after the counting was over, he had to scramble and put a concession speech together. The Democratic campaign machinery worked extremely well — it “shocked and awed” the Republicans, prompting calls for GOP leaders to do some “soul searching” and figure out what went wrong. But to seasoned political observers, the answers were clear and easy: the Obama campaign team mounted one of the best, most sophisticated “ground operations” ever, giving Barack Obama four more years in the White House.
Zeroing in on critical swing states, Obama opened up dozens, even hundreds, of field offices. His ground operatives and volunteers engaged in aggressive “get-out-the-vote” operations, pounding the pavement to help register new voters in battlegrounds, knocking on doors persuading people to go out and vote, and making millions of calls. They made personal connection with over 125 million voters — more than twice the number of interactions from Republican campaigners.
There’s even talk that the Democrats used “psy war,” lulling Republicans into believing the voting was tight while Obama volunteers went after the undecided and pro-Democrat “non-voters.” In short, the objective was to persuade supporters to translate sentiment into action. In fact, operatives mobilized in storm-ravaged New Jersey and convinced residents to overcome disaster-related stupor and go out to cast their votes. Additionally, Obama’s response to the disaster drew public praise from Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie — much to the chagrin of his fellow Republicans — accusing Christie of hurting Romney’s chances in the last few days of the campaign.
Other than the ground campaign, Romney’s loss can also be attributed to a number of reasons, among them his ultra-rightist stance on immigration that alienated Latinos and minorities. His attacks against Obamacare also did not sit well with the poor, 45 million of whom had no access to healthcare prior to the measure. And most likely, what also did him in was the perception that he was not sympathetic to the poor — gleaned from his secretly-taped comment that it’s not his job to worry about those 47 percent of Americans who depend on government support.
What happened to Romney seemed to be the case in our own 2010 elections when it looked liked Mar Roxas had the vice presidency “in the bag.” But I guess Jojo Binay’s “on-the-ground” forces effectively countered Mar’s popularity by calling in the goodwill chips Binay had dispensed in his years as Makati mayor connecting with local government counterparts all over the country. Today, there are speculations that Mar’s appointment to the DILG was precisely designed to duplicate if not overshadow Jojo Binay’s network down the grassroots level and counteract Binay’s LGU stronghold.
Coupled with the still-strong clout of Erap Estrada with the masses, VP Binay’s edge is his indefatigability in visiting the countryside and his positive image with OFWs and their families who see him as one of them. As UNA secretary-general Congressman Toby Tiangco described the Vice President, “nakadikit sa lupa” (rooted firmly on the ground).
After initial fears of polarization, most Filipinos seem to be moving in step towards the “daang matuwid” of President Aquino that has dramatically changed international perception about our country. The Philippines has been lucky so far in weathering the global financial crisis, with IMF chief Christine Lagarde coming over to see what European nations can learn from the Philippines as far as debt management is concerned. But a major concern today among the “thinking class” is — who will continue the “straight path” started by Noynoy Aquino when he steps down in 2016? Will it be someone who will do a U-turn and bring back the country to where it was before?
As of now, VP Binay is way ahead as far as the surveys are concerned. Will 2016 bring on a “Jobama”-like victory for the vice president, or will a new face from the ruling party come out from nowhere like P-Noy did in 2010? Either way, it is very difficult to predict anything at this time. In politics — three-and-a-half years is a long time.
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The sacrifices that many of our OFWs go through to provide for their families are enormous. Just the pain and heartache of being separated from loved ones is enough to make even the most “macho of machos” cringe and cry. Many of us who travel occasionally get to meet some of the OFWs and see what they go through. Some of them have endured insults and physical abuse just to earn dollars that obviously, have helped this country be where it is now — with over $78 billion in reserves — mostly from OFW remittances.
But when you hear stories about the likes of our own Ambassador Shulan Primavera being the very same ones abusing OFWs — one can’t help but want to kill them yourselves. The offense may not have been a high crime like murder or rape, but the DFA should thoroughly investigate if the OFW’s sexual harassment accusations against Primavera (a career diplomat) are true and if found guilty, he should be dealt with the full force of the law. Overseas workers rely on Philippine embassy officials to give them succor when they need assistance in an alien land, expecting these people to go the extra mile in helping them with their plight. An Ambassador is expected to be like the head of the family — taking care of our workers — and absolutely not like a father abusing his own children.
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Email: babeseyeview@yahoo.com