"I didn't become a president to be popular."

She's right of course. There are simply just things that you have to do regardless of what the public wants. I'm reminded of a line from The Fray's "All At Once": sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.

Say what you will about Gloria but even top economists like Winnie Monsod agree that she managed our economy well. Fiscally, we're stronger than other southeast asian nations inspite of the global economic recession. And that's partly because GMA took a hardline stance in steering economic policies. She could've made herself more popular by going the easy way and pandering to the public, but in the long run it wouldn't have served our fiscal growth. I did not vote for her, but it would be unfair not to give her kudos for managing our economy.