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Was it a quack? Was the State of the Nation Address (SONA) a big quack coming from a lame duck president? The most rousing statement coming from President Arroyo was at the end of her speech,

But make no mistake. I will not stand idly when anyone gets in the way of the national interest and tries to block the national vision. From where I sit, I can tell you, a President is always as strong as she wants to be.

It almost concluded what turned out to be a night of a million applauses. Since I was not there, I had a thought that maybe they had used an applause sign.

But what was supposed to be a strong statement, could have made her worries of becoming a lame duck president even more obvious.

Senate President Manuel Villar said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer,

“She’s being too defensive about her lame-duck status, I don’t think it was necessary for her to make those statements, much less challenge us,”

Villar said Arroyo should be more specific about who she was referring to. “There are a lot of interpretations when she says if someone would get in the way. But we are an independent Senate, it’s not always possible for us to say yes, yes (to whatever she wants). We might do that at home, but not in the Senate,” Villar said.

Journalist and Blogger, Ellen Tordesillas writes,

Whatever bravado she mustered last Monday couldn’t mask her pathetic situation. She talked of “strengthening institutions” which she pitilessly destroyed to save her stolen presidency.

From where I sat, Arroyo delivering her ho-hum Sona was a picture of a lame duck quacking.

Manuel also has his take on the SONA itself, but let’s concentrate on the lame duck theme,

I think its obvious enough the President’s worried about becoming a lame duck, which is why she took pains to remind Congress and the LGUs that the president giveth, and taketh, away. And why she has to remind her critics to behave.

But even her laying it on thick in terms of past, present, and future, pork, only underlines that she is inching closer to lame duck status. Unless she can pull a political surprise

Of course the best statement in defense of The President comes from Executive Secretary Ermita himself. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told the Inquirer that Arroyo wanted only to convey the message to the presidential hopefuls in 2010 that “I won’t get in your way, so don’t get in my way, too.”

Is this the unity and working together that this administration is working towards? Sounds like a childish statement to me. (Don’t push me, or I’ll push you back?) And why would anyone need to get in her way, if she plans to step down in 2010? Again, this statement from Ermita only shows that this administration and all that support it are united in one goal, and that my friends, is to rule past 2010. Charter Change come Hell or high water.