If Only I could Vote for Obama

Gallup came up with a result of its world polling on who among Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain would non-US Citizens prefer to be the next President of the United States. The result was overwhelmingly for Obama, 4 to 1.

Of the Seventy (70) countries surveyed by Gallup, only two countries showed McCain winning with a significant margin. These countries are Georgia and the Philippines. Yes dear, the Philippines! Twenty-eight percent (28%) favored McCain over Obama's twenty percent (20%).

Now, I would like to make this caveat: what I am going to say next is purely based on my opinion and may not be supported by studies.

I can understand why McCain would win in the Philippines. No matter how we may deny it, Filipinos still have some racial biases and prejudices against non-whites. Filipinos would still prefer a white over a black. Just check groceries and see how many whitening soaps and lotions available in the Filipino market today. Daily Filipinos are bombarded with messages that white is way much better than anything dark. You are instantly a hit if you are a mestizo or a mestiza, but if you are dark colored, you still have a lot of convincing to do. (Ted also wrote a story about the attitudes of some Filipino-American’s towards Obama)

Another issue would probably be the outsourcing industry in the Philippines. The Philippines have truly benefited from the Republican administration’s policy of allowing American Industries to ship some of the jobs abroad. Almost every buildings in Metro Manila right now are filled with Call Center and Business Processing Offices catering to the various industries in the US. There is a perception here in the Philippines that a Democrat, especially Barack Obama, would not support outsourcing and would protect the job security of the American workers.

But why would I still prefer Obama over McCain.

No matter how many times he will deny it, McCain would still continue the policies of George W. Bush. These policies have brought all the troubles that not just the US is facing right now, but the rest of the world as well, the Philippines included.

First there is Iraq. To this date, McCain is still insisting that going to war in Iraq is the right thing to do. He constantly criticizes Obama about not admitting that the surge have brought some good things to Iraq, forgetting that going to Iraq was wrong on the first place. Iraq was a symbol of the US bullying the rest of the world and this gave all those extremist a rallying point, emboldens them and making the world even more dangerous than it is before 9/11.

Second, McCain and the Republicans (most of them) are in denial that Climate Change is caused by manmade reasons. For them, burning gasses and drilling oil is not really the main cause of Global Warming. Remember Sarah Palin during the Vice Presidential debate? She mentioned that Global Warming is mainly caused by some cycles of the wind and human interventions have nothing to do with it.

The US, being the most powerful country in the world should lead in the campaign against Climate Change. But how can the US lead with a Republican Administration that is being supported by lobbies from Oil Companies? One of the reasons why the Kyoto protocol did not succeed is because the US is not and refuses to be a signatory to this agreement. With McCain being the President, I can’t see hope for a fight against Climate Change.

Third, the economy. It is unfortunate that the Philippine is dependent on the US Economy. With all these economic woes that the US and the rest of the world is facing, Mc Cain never showed anything that he has the capacity to lead the US in solving this crisis. Besides, this economic problem that the US is facing right now was because of the Republican policies in allowing the market to dictate its own course with little regulations from the government. I simply cannot imagine another four years of a Republican in the White House.

Fourth, McCain is old and if he gets elected and something happens to him, God forbid, Sarah Palin would become the US President. If she becomes US President, to paraphrase Tina Fey, I don’t want to become a citizen of this Earth. Palin scares me.