Running Mates

Equally important to "who's running" in the Philippine elections is "who's he/she running with."

It's understandable that a presidential candidate's choice of running mate is a factor in a voter's choice but it's strange how inflated its importance is in the Philippines. You look at say, America and you'll see the strange combination of a young, African-American named Obama and some old guy named Biden who people barely mention. Here in the Philippines, the choice of running mate can make or break you.

Why? A running mate is a prospective Vice-President. Vice-Presidents are jokingly referred to as "spare tires" in the executive branch. They don't have any real power on their own. They can be assigned a cabinet position free of confirmation hearings but then again, that's entirely optional. Really, they do nothing at all, at least, on paper. Their only job is to make "istambay" until the President croaks or is otherwise unable to do his job which is strange since Pnoy doesn't do his job  yet I don't see Binay stepping in. Historically, it hasn't happened often enough that a Vice-President took the reigns of this crazy horse of a nation even if you include Gloria. 

Maybe there's this assumption that the Vice-President has the ear of the President and that the latter's decisions would necessarily be based on the advice of the former. In short, that they'll work as a team? That's just speculation. Besides, have you seen the current administration? Pnoy and Binay have this passive-aggressive nonsense going on. Since breaking off, Binay has been talking smack about the administration (that he seemed to have no problem with for the past five or so years) and some members of the administration are retaliating. Yet Binay and Pnoy are hands-off with each other directly. It's like telling your lover, "I love you but I hate everything you do and stand for but I still love you!" or as Facebook would put it, "It's complicated." All this duplicity and two-facedness makes me physically ill actually.

It's like alchemy, you know? With the right combination, you might just turn shit into gold! So what combinations are in the works in today's hip, rock-rollin' election scene, man? There's talk that Pnoy would like Grace Poe to be Mar Roxas' running mate. I find this strange. See, people don't normally willingly tie millstones around their necks and jump into a deep ravine. Why on Earth would Grace Poe tie herself to the millstone named "Mar"? Poe seems to be leaning towards a tandem with Escudero. Personally, I can't stand that smug prick but as they say, "the heart has its reasons of which reason does not know" or some such sugary nonsense no sane person would ever put into paper, much less a legal document.

You know who Mar should choose as a running mate? Vice Ganda, that's who. I mean, why not? It's already a circus, why not send in the clowns? Mar's old gimmick was "Mr.Palengke" so why not align him with someone who the uneducated trash in the real palengkes actually watch?

By the way, in case you forget, the future of the Philippines is at stake here but I'm just saying.