Editorial

Change we need

PRESIDENT Arroyo is expected to meet US President Barack Obama this morning. Given that the American leader will have many more discussions on the same day, we do not know how substantive their ?pull-aside? meeting on the sidelines of the National Prayer Breakfast will be. Mrs. Arroyo was originally scheduled to fly home yesterday, but we can understand why she was willing to change her travel arrangements to accommodate a meeting, albeit a brief one, with the popular US president. The United States, after all, is a major trade and investment partner and and a key security ally.

Beyond these national concerns, Mrs. Arroyo must be eager to come face-to-face with such a historic figure, a leader both intelligent and charismatic, and capable of bringing unity and trust to a political system that had grown accustomed to division and cynicism.

Perhaps it is not too late for Mrs. Arroyo to pick up a few pointers, too, on how to manage the people who work for her?and how to admit mistakes.

Criticized for trying to appoint a key ally who was later found to have failed to pay his taxes, President Obama acknowledged simply that he had ?screwed up? and accepted the nominee?s withdrawal.

?Did I screw up in this situation? Absolutely. I?m willing to take my lumps,? Obama told NBC, one of five interviews he conducted Tuesday. In interview after interview, Obama said there are ?not two sets of rules? for people?and said that average taxpayers deserve to have public officials who pay their taxes on time.

Contrast this forthright acknowledgment with the Palace?s penchant for defending erring or incompetent officials, or the administration?s refusal to admit its mistakes. Would it really be so bad, as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile puts it, for the President to start firing some people? Maybe then, we, too, can bring about the change we need.