Dear Editor,

Being the first to achieve anything worthy, merits commendation. Whether the criteria is gender or racial base, you best your competitors and kudos to you.

But, in achieving such zenith of achievement, if you fail to live up to expectations your failure is not limited to you, but to others who may aspire and are worthy of such honour.

The aforementioned makes reference to two political leaders of their countries; one the first woman prime minister, the other the first black president of the USA.

The contrast of both leaders are glaring.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is a most likeable human being, her physical charm is magnetic, and her appearance should be the envy of every woman her age. But there could be obvious reasons for defying the odds of her youthful appearance despite the stress of the job.

Being the head of a country whose GDP is one the lowest in the region, has the highest murder rate in the northern part of the hemisphere, high employment rate, and a shrinking middle class is no commendation. Being head of a party whose only positive is the ability to win elections — by default as usually it’s against a fractured opposition — is no commendation. Jamaica is the second highest indebted country in the world, has high corruption, and is being dictated to by the IMF. Jamaica has a government who treats its citizens with contempt, ignores their cries for accountability, and is silent on major issues, and rewards party faithfuls with appointments on boards,whether they are qualified or not to hold such posts. The logical conclusion why she does not seem affected by the stress of the job could be that she is not doing the job or just doesn’t care, or both.

In contrast, President Obama has aged considerably since he took office. This seemingly goes with inevitable stress of the job. The president is accountable to the nation, he cannot dodge issues .The media hungry practitioners are like hawks who ensures the public is well informed. The president has proven he is up to the task of being president. He has met more opposition and disrespect from some political representatives, hate groups, racist fringes than any other president in the history of the USA.

Despite the foregoing he has achieved much, amongst his numerous accolades, among them a health care law that evaded several presidents for over 60 years. He has agreed to lift the 50-odd-year embargo imposed on Cuba. He has met and exceeded the extraordinarily high standard set for the first non-white president in a dominant white country from a field of potential candidates.

In my view, despite concerted efforts to make him fail, he will end up as one of the best presidents that the country has produced in the last 80 years.

Gender criteria alone, in my view, is not worthy of much praise. The stark reality is, it is not a major deal for women to reach the top of any field. They have already proven themselves to show superior strength in all fields.

Tony miles

tonymiles1940@gmail.com