Friday, July 08, 2005
Lee: Voices in the VP's head
By Kelvin King Lee
Babble On
I AM the voice inside your head Mr. Vice-President. Sorry for keeping you awake at night, but you haven't been getting much sleep anyhow. In fact, I doubt if you've been getting any sleep at all. Too much excitement, huh? Too much anticipation and planning I bet. It's so close after all, so close that you can almost taste it. The Presidency.
You've come a long way since you started television reporting, haven't you sir?
But I am the voice inside your head, Mr. Vice-President. And I am saying, NO. It ain't your time.
The President has a full five years left in her term, and you have another five years in yours as well. The people picked you to be vice-president, not president.
You only get to be that if she dies, resigns or is impeached. Barring all that, you don't get the top spot, not yet.
Yes I know you've been making all those grandiose plans. I know that tons of people have been coming in to see you and that your calendar is overflowing with appointments.
People want to make sure you remain friends if you manage to get into Malacañang Palace.
Some things you have to remember though; you're a vice-president of the Philippines. And not just any vice-president, but HER vice-president. You both ran under the same banner, on the same platform.
You're supposed to be allies, working together for the good of the country, not creating your own power base and taking over, second-guessing her and "forgiving her" in public. She doesn't need to have her own vice-president nipping at her heels.
You're hungry I know, but hey, you're young. You're what? 56? 57? You got a lot of years left in you. You don't have to present yourself as a viable alternative to her. Because of that office you are in, the office of the vice-president, you are already the alternative, in fact, the only legal alternative left.
But that doesn't mean you start calling on her to step down, or even hinting at it. That's not your job. This is your job. The Vice-Presidency, where you are essentially a President in reserve.
You have no other function than to be prepared to assume the presidency should a vacancy arise, presuming of course, that you aren't appointed to a Cabinet position. So your function, your job, simply put, is this: to wait for the President to die. Or resign. Or get impeached. Nothing else.
When she's gone, then you can move in. But while she's there, she's President. Not you, not that guy feeding ducks, not that wife of a movie actor. She is President. She may be floundering at the moment, but that fact remains. She's President. And you're not.
You and a ton of people may not like that, but that's the way things are. Let's act like it shall we? Let's all act with a little dignity, a little respect and perhaps, a little forgiveness. Maybe then you can get some sleep and the voices inside your head will finally shut up.
email me at babbleon@atenista.net
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