Presidency

Every president need be presidential - free from what is coarse, vulgar, and uncouth. I still believe that the presidency has art. A president puts and holds everything in equipoise. He deals with softness and sentimentality and ruthlessness and viciousness with discernment. He knows how to harmonise a country despite diversity. He conforms to standards of propriety, good taste, and morality. If not, at least he is discreet. He knows how to make a distinction between his presidential self and his ordinary self, which could be heathenish, unsavoury, and irascible and could cry down anyone or anything. He can fascinate, allure, and delight the whole country. He knows how to yield to the desire of the people and knows how to impose order upon them. He is an adroit leader and an authoritative summary of what a Filipino is.

On Karen's Being Harsh to Alma

What kinder? Alma humiliated herself. Not Karen, of course. She answered the interview questions stupidly. The interview has made millions of voters realise who Alma Moreno is and why she doesn't deserve to be voted for by them. Alma Moreno can be a senator only if there is the crunch of Filipinos more exceptional than her. Maybe she wants to follow in the footsteps of Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla. What guts!