It takes a good leader to make hard decisions. It takes an awesome leader to make hard and unpopular decisions just when he needs to be popular – like in the run up to an election year for example?
From this news report, it seems like Noli de Castro knows what an awesome leader is. I mean, sure, it was Cerge Remonde who said
I think we should not glorify and glamorize these people by giving in to their demands as to whom they would want to negotiate with. I think that could be a very bad policy.
But the way things work around here, if de Castro wanted to score a few easy brownie points, he could’ve easily overriden sensible voices and gone on to Sulu for the photo ops. It is, I think, to his credit that he seems to be toeing the reasonable line with this one.
Which prolly begs the question, when has he ever gone against this government? I’m all for that whole loyalty thing, but there comes a time in a politician’s life when, if he can’t break ranks, he can at least make his discomfiture known. Has de Castro ever done that?
The answer to that question will be relevant to those who are now considering him for 2010. He’s done a significant amount of good, sure; but a person who has kept his ass too safe will turn off the voters.
All told, de Castro might know what it takes to be an awesome leader, but is he good enough to actually be one?
Filed under: 2010 watch, news, politics, Abu Sayaff, ICRC, kidnapping, negotiation, Noli de Castro
God giveth and God taketh away.
your backhanded (sort of) compliment to de castro for taking a non-populist but correct, albeit pro-administration, stance is a classic illustration of why it is not at all easy for a politician to do the right thing.
i don’t think the correctness of what he did is diluted in any way by the fact that it is consistent with the administration’s position.
You don’t even know whose idea it is. Doesn’t sound like a Black Nazarene devotee.
so what if it was somebody else’s idea, brianb? it was de castro who actually refused, wasn’t it? problem is you seem to focus on strawman issues.
It’s like practice in tennis. Someone lobs the ball on de castro and he does his part. Strawman? More like the issue is if he’s content on being puppet. Odd that he actually belongs on a different party from the president.
What do you exactly mean by me going after strawman arguments? Every time someone accuses me of drawing a strawman I always go back to old an rhetoric text and reread the definition. I don’t think I’m fond of bringing up strawman arguments. What I do is bring up the obvious, the obvious that people who loves arguments for arguments sake tries to ignore in exchange for, say, a more glamorous and First World palatable arguments. It’s like you prefer to say, CARP problem and I prefer to say land thieves and Kastilas.
brianb, i don’t know about you but to me, there’s no such thing as “original idea”. there could be variations on how it is carried out, or expressed, but doing the right thing is doing the right thing.
making an action an issue just because somebody else thought of it first is disingenuous. it is a false (straw man) issue, i think.
You’re forgetting it’s not just the idea but also Noli himself who’s the subject of this article and is applauded in it.
this is clearly a “strawman” debate.
Didn’t you start it?
no.
noli knows his politics.
but i hope the people would choose correctly.
not noli, i hope
De Castro is a fence sitter…
sorry, but noli for me does not have what it takes to become a good leader. he knows politics but he does not have the right values to steer this country towards the much need change.
he is a lapdog
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I don’t think Noli has the moral fortitude to stand up against evil. He only has the guts to do his “Magandang Gabi, Bayan” thing. That is small scale, small fish exposes
Bloggers’ Choice: The Results
Last April 27, 2010, I wrote a post entitled “Bloggers’ Choice This Coming 2010 Election “and this post contained a poll. The poll is about who among the candidates running for president and vice-president were chosen by different Filipino bloggers. I want to thank the bloggers who voted, participated and commented on this poll, as a matter of fact, a total of 211 bloggers participated. As of 1:45 p.m today, May 7, 2010, I officially closed the poll, and now I present to you the results. Please click the link
http://www.semidoppel.com/bloggers’-choice-the-results/
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