"Americans will have to beat the virus, rebuild their economy, heal their divisions, and work to be taken seriously again."
Former United States Vice President Joseph Biden has won the elections, with the incumbent president Donald Trump unlikely to concede, insisting he was the victim of fraud.
It’s a dramatic conclusion to a months-long, vitriolic campaign period that began four years ago when the businessman and former reality-show star assumed office and conducted himself in ways never imagined for the leader of the free world. The COVID-19 pandemic only raised the stakes for the American people.
As the rest of the world awoke Sunday, the President-elect and his running mate, Kamala Harris, addressed the nation, emphasizing that they would work with everybody, not only those who supported them in the elections. Their message was one of reconciliation and healing – also principled leadership, empathy, and an adherence to the truth. Meanwhile, the losing camp held a press conference, not at a posh hotel as implied but at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping, outside an office near an adult bookstore and a cremation center. They announced their filing of lawsuits to challenge what they claimed to be fraudulent elections.
Why has the US elections captivated many of us, too, here at home?
Foremost, there are millions of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the US. While many of them have settled there, they have family and relatives here in the Philippines. Their status, their security, and their health and career prospects do not only concern them and their immediate circles.
Second, America is still perceived to be a global leader. Despite different countries’ problems in their respective home fronts, the international community still looks at the US for its actions on various world concerns. It remains, after all, to have the biggest economy. It has a major role in geopolitics. Its bilateral relations with other countries play a decisive role in that country’s policy, and often affect markets heavily.
Perhaps, too, we are so interested in American politics because of the interesting characters that populate it. Mr. Trump’s remarks, in front of the cameras or from his Twitter account, are never boring even if they are untruthful or downright false. At the very least we are entertained, or relieved that what we witness in our own backyard is not quite the worst.
More importantly, however, we are interested in what goes on in the US because the qualities becoming of a leader are not unique to any one country. In fact, the attributes of an ideal leader are universal. They have a healthy respect for science, and the truth. They are not petty. They do not make everything about themselves. They do not play the victim when things do not go their way. They are guided by objectivity and clarity of mind and speech. They try to work not just with those who applaud them, and find value in criticism instead of cracking down on them.
Genuine leaders acknowledge that nobody is as big as the institution of government and the concept of democracy. They know that there is a system—imperfect as it is, but still working anyway—of choosing leaders that must never be undermined just to satisfy a personal quest.
Americans have a lot of work ahead of them. They have to end an era of incompetence, hubris, narcissism and prevarication. They will have to beat the virus, rebuild their economy, heal their divisions, and work to be taken seriously again. The world will look at them as they try to be an example—if not how to do things, then how not to do them.
