Obama and jobs

What is it going to be for us now that Obama is taking the helm once again four years down the road? I have never been a liker of GOP though, but you can bet that the Republicans have been instrumental in bringing a lot of business and jobs in this country during the Bush administration. Bush had always been firm on the ground when it comes to free enterprise even if it means losing jobs for the Americans.

He believed that giving up jobs is much better than losing the business and therefore, Americans must live with the fact that there are jobs that they can no longer keep because of (global) competition hence, the rise of outsourcing in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Perhaps, the defeat of Mitt Romney was partly because the Republicans gave away the jobs Americans used to have. Romney was perhaps the best candidate ever produced by the GOP, however, had to bear the brunt of the stigma he inherited from the Bush administration just like John McCain in the 2008 elections. It’s something that the Americans cannot get over with. If you’ve followed the elections, the vociferations in 2008 and this year’s elections are the same however, coated in lofty rhetoric.

While many of us, including myself, felt good about the outcome of the recent US elections, Obama’s victory may have its caveat. If you recall, Obama already postured himself last year to the American voters (to the jitter and panic of the call center people in the country) that he will do everything he can to bring back those jobs now held by Indians, Filipinos and Russians.

And now that he gets another fresh mandate, is he going to make good of what he said? I could only hope that it was lip service or he was only joking.

So what’s the fate of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines four years hence if the Americans demand it from the Obama administration? As I have said, the BPO frenzy was a handiwork of the Republicans something we are indebted to for creating such policy direction in US trade and economics. And if I had to put it in another way, we are merely beneficiaries of a policy that most Americans grumbled against. And the good, and I think the most ridiculous part of it all, is that we also benefit from a polarized American congress. The Republicans control majority of the seats in congress thus, Obama still needs some figuring out in order to push his policy agenda against business process outsourcing. So, for as long as the legislative branch remains polarized in the US, “tuloy ang ligaya” for the BPO sector. (*me grins*) 

It’s that sort thing that makes you curious that there is a guy who makes this country so nervous, so unsure and insecure in so many ways and yet we want him to be president. So what the heck is going on with us Filipinos? If you come to think of it, not too many of us care about US elections, much less, about the personalities thereof. In fact, most of us are clueless as to how elections shape Philippine politics and economics and yet Filipinos want him to be president. What’s really the matter with us? 

I guess Filipinos like Obama for president not because he is likeable or he makes really very compelling speeches. The part that is easy to understand by Filipinos is that Obama represents change. Something that Filipinos share dearly with the Americans people. 

For those who have come to understand the importance of American elections in world politics, Obama represents stability and peace. Yes, there may be more jobs during the Bush administration, but it was sorely encumbered with restlessness and terrorism. People may have lost their jobs in the Obama administration but what could be more dangerous is when people lost their peace. Jobs can easily be found in times of peace. In war, you lost both — peace and jobs. 

So thank heavens for the Republicans. They give jobs the world needs. Thank heavens for Obama for keeping the peace we all deserve.

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