There was a time, when the Filipino dreamed of becoming  president of the United States. As an American colonial for three decades (1899-1945) his social and political aspirations were a mirror of the American mind. The Filipinos were fed with American ideals of equality, industry, civic-mindedness by an American inspired educational system with the hopeful intention by colonial policy makers, of creating ‘little brown brothers.’ The allure of America succeeded.  Droves of Filipinos, attracted by these ideals, migrated to the U.S. since then and only slowed to a trickle in this century. But on arrival,   what they faced were the false promises that American colonialism hid.  Many of them ended as stoop labor, constrained to labor encampments, subject to racial indignities, and prevented to reproduce and build families. Inspired by the same allure, subsequent migrations fared better albeit subject to more legal and subtle means of  racism. The climate of the civil rights movement gave hope that the allure remained alive and indeed FIlipino-Americans attained the dreams that failed their forefathers, many succeeding in businesses, in education and in political office. Now, the current presidential campaign is rekindling this allure – of America the great land of hope and opportunity, the land where dreams come true, converging as it were, in a person who personifies diaspora.

The greatest dream is the presidency. The beauty that is America is that anyone can aspire to be a president or even “accidentally” be chosen to be a vice-president. While that may be so, the aspirant is ajudged not by the color of the skin nor gender and is tested by the grueling and arduous scrutiny of friends and foes alike, poor and wealthy, men and women, black and white. To emerge from this crucible of trials  is a test of the  character of the intellect and the steadiness of the soul.  Our – the voter’s choices –  are usually towards those that resonate with their own personal aspirations although sometimes wrongly,  we often pander to affiliations with causes that describe the problem but does not resolve the real issue – the transformation of  governance, no less.  It is easy for politicians to pay lip service to what people want to hear but the words can often ring hollow. It is not enough whether Barack supports the Fil-Vet issue – what matters more is that he recognizes the immorality of the neglect heaped upon loyal citizen-subjects. Nor is it enough that  he recognizes the contributions of Filipino-Americans in the U.S.  What matters more is what he does to take these contributions to greater glory and to the benefit of all.  Great leadership requires accepting the obligation to improve the conditions of those being led and to lead them to a greater future.

We know that popularity, charm, attractiveness can all be fashioned and re-fashioned by sophisticated marketing strategies that Americans have been accustomed to and been led to believe as factual and real. Bush’s  charming speech is really a sign of intellectual laziness and Palin’s coyness a lack of intellectual maturity and perhaps of discipline. Thus, they cannot, should not govern. Great civilizations prospered from the wisdom of its rulers not the mastery of it peoples and advertising. Great leadership  requires a disciplined mind and a soul that can embody the aspirations of the human race — not just of Americans.

Now the world watches America and aspires to see Barack succeed not because of his multi-ethnicity but because of what he embodies: a quality of mind and a very old soul. Barack is the epitome of the global immigrant in search of a homeland; we hope he can re-ignite the beacon that once was America’s true allure.