Mir fällt nichts weltbewegendes mehr ein…und dir?

Angin segar demokrasi di AS baru saja muncul pasca kemenangan telak senator muda Barack Obama atas pesaingnya John McCain dalam Pilpres AS. Obama dengan usianya 47 tahun, jauh lebih muda daripada McCain di luar dugaan mampu memenangkan persaingan. Ini sudah cukup dijadikan pertanda bahwa tidak selamanya yang muda kalah segala hal daripada kaum tua.

Ada beberapa hal positif dari kemenangan Obama yang kiranya patut dijadikan contoh bagi elite parpol di Indonesia. Yang pertama adalah sikap sportif yang perlu dijunjung tinggi sekalipun dalam konteks bersaing dengan lawan. Sikap sportif ini yang ditunjukkan Obama dalam meladeni McCain. Obama yang dicalonkan dari partai Demokrat ini tidak peduli dengan berbagai tuduhan yang dilontarkan McCain serta tidak lantas membalas tuduhan tersebut. Saat McCain begitu sibuk mencari-cari kesalahan Obama, sikap dewasa pada diri Obama mampu membuat dirinya tak terpancing dengan derasnya tuduhan negatif tersebut. Sebaliknya, Obama mampu mengoptimalkan potensinya dalam mencari dukungan dengan cepat dan agresif melalui jaringan dunia maya, lebih agresif ketimbang lontaran negatif yang diucapkan McCain.

Hal positif kedua yang perlu kita ketahui adalah bahwa perbedaan yang sifatnya kecil tidak perlu dibesar-besarkan. Perbedaan ini tidak harus menjadi pertimbangan bahwa si A tidak boleh atau tidak pantas menjabat sebagai pemimpin. Perbedaan ras maupun suku sangat tidak wajar jika dijadikan pertimbangan dalam menentukan pilihan. Obama yang berasal dari kaum kulit hitam nyatanya mampu menaklukan pesaingnya yang berkulit putih. Bahkan, tidak sedikit yang menjatuhkan pilihan pada Obama ini merupakan warga AS berkulit putih.

Di Indonesia sendiri, sikap mencari-cari kesalahan orang lain masih nampak pada persaingan menjadi pemimpin. Di sisi lain, nampaknya nama-nama lama akan kembali dicalonkan untuk menduduki singgasana RI-1 hanya karena didukung parpol besar dan terkenal. Sementara pihak lain yang lebih muda, idealis dan jauh lebih segar dan cerdas akhirnya terpinggirkan tak mendapat kesempatan. Jika seperti ini, regenerasi pemimpin di negeri ini menjadi terhambat.

Jika kita kembali pada peristiwa kemenangan Obama di AS, parpol-parpol di Indonesia harusnya tidak terpaku untuk mencalonkan pemimpin yang itu-itu saja hanya karena posisi strategisnya di parpol. Partai Demokrat di AS saja berani mangambil tindakan mencalonkan pemimpin muda yang masih segar dan nyatanya membuahkan hasil brilian. Beranikah parpol di Indonesia berbuat demikian?

Hifdzi Ulil Azmi

Mahasiswa Farmasi FMIPA Universitas Indonesia

(dimuat di harian Seputar Indonesia, Kamis 13 November 2008)

PROPERTY DESCRIPTION:

The fastest selling community in the South unveils a breathtaking new home design philosophy for its third phase. After the resounding success of Canyon Ranch, and the Canyon Rach Casitas, and the Century Properties embarks on an awe-inspiring new concept.    Ushering in a clean, green generation To ensure that future generations can still enjoy living in a healthy, thriving world, we must be mindful of the effects our way of living has on the planet we call home. That in mind, The Moderno at  Canyon Ranch has undergone great lengths to minimize our carbon footprint through sustainable eco-friendly architecture.  Feel good about where you live Working closely with Asya, an architectural firm a that is a member of the US Green Building Council, The Moderno at Canyon Ranch employs a “green” design philosophy that takes into consideration attemps to safeguard the environment by choosing emo-friendly building materials. Lauderdale   Daytona     Miami Orlando     About The Century Properties Group Since 1986, Century Properties has been developing, managing, and marketing the most exceptional residential, corporate, and leisure developments in the Philippines. The Pacific Star Building, The Riviera Golf and Country Club, The Asian Hospital Medical Suites, and the award winning Essensa East Forbes in Fort Bonifacio are only a few of over sixty major projects in its very impressive portfolio.   Today, we have quietly grown into one of the LARGEST privately owned full-service real estate firms in the Philippines, with over 70 billion pesos in total assets under management. Our company has won such accolades like the Global Excellence Award for Most Outstanding Philippine Real Estate Firm, The National Product Quality Excellence Award for Best Philippine Real Estate firm, and the Most Outstanding Housing Developer from the Philippine Business World Quality Awards.   With a 20 year heritage of innovation, excellence, and superior service, we aim to break new ground with such pioneering projects like the currently rising South of Market at the Fort, the country’s FIRST fully-fitted, fully furnished residential hi-rise, Grand Soho Makati in Buendia Avenue, the only fully-fitted condo that offers residents three exceptional design choices, Soho Central, the FIRST ever transportation oriented development, with its direct link to the MRT Train station, and Canyon Ranch, the nation’s first wi-fi residential community in the Philippines. And while we at Century Properties strive for more “FIRSTS”, more visionary achievements, and more awards, we all have but one common goal: Service Excellence. After all, it is the satisfaction of the customers like you that always comes FIRST on our list.. Recent Awards Global Excellence Award 2005 Most Outstanding Philippine Real Estate Firm National Awards 2006 Most Outstanding Housing Developer National Product Quality Excellence 2006 Best Philippine Real Estate Firm Philippine Star Brand Awards 2006 Best Managed Housing Developer

Noel S. Pura

International Marketing Director

Team Canada 

Nove anni fa,prima che l’apocalisse finanziaria spazzasse in lungo e in largo gli Stati Uniti e le Torri Gemelle venissero abbattute dai terroristi,John Mc Cain rappresentò una felice anomalia nel mondo conservatore americano.

Pur non condividendo “eccessi liberisti”(pessima cosa visto che l’attuale crisi molto deve all’intrusione ed alle manovre truffaldine di pubblicissime autorità,congresso e FED in primis) la piattaforma del candidato alle primarie repubblicane conteneva interessanti aperture su issues sociali quali la ricerca sulle staminali embrionali,la possibilità di scelta sull’aborto,le unioni civili gay.

Il tutto compendiato da un sapiente utilizzo dei nuovi media,Internet in testa,di molto precedente agli attuali fasti democratici,quelli del supponente Howard Dean e soprattutto quelli dell’ abilissimo Obama.

Un programmino moderato,quindi,ma ben altra cosa rispetto a quello contraddittorio preparato dal rivale e futuro Presidente George Bush.

Cosicchè è lecito perfino discettare se una vittoria del Senatore dell’Arizona avrebbe potuto mutare il corso della storia USA evitando l’autentico tracollo ed il fuggi-fuggi generale dal partito già guidato da Ronald Reagan.

Che è la cronaca di questi giorni,con il passaggio del Senatore Specter al campo avverso in Pennsylvania e la continua guerra di tutti contro tutti al cui confronto impallidirebbero le dispute correntizie dei democristiani d’antan.

Ma,sconfitto nettamente ed onorevolmente otto anni dopo quel primo rovescio,Mc Cain sembra aver cambiato idea su molte cose ed in un intervista sul male profondo del suo partito si limita ad affermare che “sì,occorre cambiare la strategia nei prossimi mesi”,salvo poi glissare sulla questione capitale che frena le potenzialità di recupero dell’elefantino.

Ovvero quella dell’ineludibile apertura alle nuove istanze di libertà individuali e sociali che emergono con inaspettata energia da quell’America profonda dipinta fino a poco tempo orsono come una monocroma distesa tradizionalista.

Che dire poi di quella smisurata escrescenza governativa incubata in quasi un quindicennio di “conservatorismo compassionevole”?

La catastrofica politica dello stimolo e del salvataggio  dei bancarottieri fraudolenti dell’attuale amministrazione  non ne è,forse,la diretta conseguenza,quasi un necessario e temibile corollario?

Nulla da dire nemmeno su questo, al massimo qualche penoso distinguo. 

Solamente il silenzio riservato di un vecchio signore travolto da qualcosa troppo più grande di lui.

EXCLUSIVE:

Sen. John McCain says President Obama is breaking campaign promises he made to the American people and has passed up numerous opportunities to reach out to Republicans — a pledge the Democrat made repeatedly during their battle for the presidency.

“There are things that, statements that then-candidate Obama made during the campaign over and over and over again that obviously he’s not staying with,” Mr. McCain told The Washington Times in an hour-long interview with reporters and editors.

The Arizona senator said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “put it best” when she described the lack of bipartisanship in the drafting of the $787 billion bailout bill, which garnered just three Republican votes in the Senate.

” ‘We won, we wrote the bill.’ That applies not just to that bill, but it does to all of the other pieces of legislation, too,” he said, clearly exasperated. “We’re not in on the takeoff, and anybody who calls the stimulus package … bipartisan — you pick off three Republicans? That’s not bipartisanship.”

Mr. McCain also ticked off a list of campaign promises his presidential opponent has abandoned, including pledges to clamp down on pork-barrel spending, reinvigorate nuclear energy and expand free trade.

Mr. Obama, who vowed to change politics as usual in Washington, made a show of bipartisanship as he took office, even throwing an inaugural ball to celebrate his Republican opponent in the presidential race. But since then, Mr. McCain said he has been consulted just once by the administration, when a White House lawyer visited to discuss the closing of Guantanamo Bay.

“Aside from that, I have not known of an occasion where they sit down across the table. Now, there’s been occasions where the president comes and talks to Republicans, the president talks to — et cetera, but that’s not good bipartisanship,” he said.

The senator said he thinks Mr. Obama does want bipartisanship and, for his part, “I’m actively looking for ways that I can work with the administration and I seek them out because Americans want us to do that today.” But the 26-year Capitol Hill veteran said achieving the campaign promise will take a real commitment from the president.

“I’ve been around for a lot of administrations, and the way you address an issue in a bipartisan fashion is you invite somebody over and you sit down at a table and you say, ‘OK, here’s our position on this issue, and here’s what we want — what do you want? What’s your priority? And you sit down and work out an agreement and you come out and you say, like [former Democratic House Speaker] Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan did, that we’ve agreed and we’re going to push this through,” he said.

That bipartisan pledge is not the only campaign promise Mr. Obama has broken in his first 60 days in office. Foremost, the Illinois senator, who pledged to bring all U.S. troops home quickly if elected, announced an 18-month timetable for withdrawal, along with a plan to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq.

That, though, hasn’t irked Mr. McCain, who throughout the campaign urged a less hasty drawdown of troops. “I’m glad, because he said he’d get them out, set date, and obviously, that is significantly different, particularly what he said when he was first a candidate,” he said.

But other broken promises infuriate the senator, long a critic of pork-barrel spending through congressional “earmarks” lawmakers insert into bills for special projects at home. In Mr. Obama’s first presidential debate, he said “we need earmark reform, and when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.”

“We’re going to scrub the budget line by line — who read the stimulus package?” Mr. McCain said. Not Mr. Obama, who urged quick passage of the bill, then took a three-day weekend in Chicago before signing the legislation, packed with 9,000 earmarks worth billions of dollars.

“He said nuclear power – they have basically — not said nuclear power is gone but their positions make it impossible for nuclear power to be a viable alternative,” Mr. McCain said. “Um, what else?” the senator asked. “He’s been a bit contradictory on trade.”

“Said he was going to unilaterally renegotiate NAFTA, then said he was for free trade, and then he signed two bills, one of them with ‘Buy American” provisions in it and the other one with the Mexican trucks,” a pilot cross-border trucking program expanded under the North American Free Trade Agreement by President Bush.

“Both of them are sending a message to the world that the United States is practicing protectionism. … This is very dangerous,” he said. “One of my highest concerns about this administration is protectionism and the Mexican truck thing was inexcusable, absolutely inexcusable.”