The Lesson Plan

Last year, the President debuted the ambitious “Super Regions” infrastructure framework. This year she takes it ten steps further by bannering a new ideal — that we become a first world country in 20 years. And in her speech today, she outlines how she plans to contribute to that vision in her last three years.

While I can’t comment fully on the speech yet due to obvious reasons, I also wouldn’t want to say how unrealistic her vision is. Everyone deserves the chance to dream. However, I would like to raise an important point made by the Inquirer’s editorial today — that our country needs a leader, not a manager. We don’t need just a checklist of accomplishments and goals; we need a direction, a vision and a dream. PGMA may dream all she will, but to get our people sold on that dream is another matter. Having our people believe in her and  work with her on this requires the talents and charisma of a leader that this manager of a President has yet to or may never even become. How she attempts to do this in the SONA will be one thing I’m looking out for.

Another comment I have to make is with regards to language. I really dislike using the term “First World” since the category it belongs to has eroded since the fall of the Wall. I rather we use the terms “developing” or “developed”, or “industrialized” or “lightly industrialized” instead of the Cold War trichotomy. That trichotomy carries with it a connotation of inadequacy or a lack of self-esteem. While that is felt in our nation, I believe that the language we use now determines the history we write tomorrow. I understand that the term “First World” is one that will definitely resonate with our people, considering how a sizeable chunk of our population moves around the world and sees the stark difference between Us and Them — an distinction becoming increasingly irrelevant in an age of globalization.

And perhaps it is partly because of this backwards vision that I am not easily sold by this President’s dreams. And that is without even getting started on her legitimacy issues.