Who we support the Green Party candidate we vote in a runoff for our candidate, knowing that after the enormous strategic blunders (especially political marketing) that led to the disastrous result of the first, was unlikely to overcome the wide gap reached its winner. And, as expected, we lost at the polls. We were three and a half million Colombians but we were far from being the majority. Why?
Because elections are not won with good intentions, even with good ideas or the best programs, but with votes. And Santos won the most votes that, in contemporary democracies, are obtained primarily with machinery and an effective media management were the real "locomotives" of his campaign, especially betting on success exploit the good image of Uribe, the confidence inspired by his government on security and, of course, the skill of the candidate to capitalize on their advantage, these two ingredients.
far so good, and legitimate. But the sum of several other negative factors and illegitimate (if not illegal) already publicly known and reported ad nauseum in the media, also contributed to the defeat of the currency option. First, to put it in terms of Habermas, the pollution of "public space" of communication with junk information facilitated by the Santos campaign: even he insists on denying it, not hire gurus like JJ Rendón, Jack Leslie, James Carville and Ravi Singh to lay hold candles to the Virgin. This strategy was further enhanced by the green inexperience to react vigorously and promptly (no later than the first round, when the damage had been done) against the electoral dirty war. And second illegal intervention policy of the President in favor of those anointed as his successor, added to the abuse of the welfare of his government machinery to favor Santos, was demonstrated statistically by the Global Exchange research the correlation between their most votes in respect average and the municipalities where subsidies are concentrated in Acció Family n.
On the side of the vanquished also missed the limits and errors. In order of importance: lack of equipment as the Green is a young party that is just building their structures, the inability to crystallize alliances without compromising the integrity of the party or favoring personal enmities, the deficiencies in the management of resources and, as they say in tennis, "unforced errors" or "own goals", as stated by the candidate, who was trapped several times in the debates, which prevented him from tune with the electorate more humble, paradoxically it was sad that his proposal sought help as a priority.
However, in the midst of the electoral defeat several victories that can truly celebrate. Mockus and Fajardo these elections gave ethical status unprecedented in the history of Colombia for the first time two honest intellectual (rather than professional politicians Manzanillo, with the advantages and disadvantages involved) were a real choice of presidential power , based not on patronage but on the traditional vote of opinion in favor of a revolutionary culture of legality and fight against corruption.
The question now is what to expect from the president of Santos. Its proposed "Government of National Unity" disconcerting, to say the least, because it is ambivalent. Could be construed as uncritical unanimity project that aims to crown the impunity and unbridled corruption that leaves the government of Uribe, eliminating the possibility of rectification of the failed policies and opposition (a necessary condition of any mature democracy) in a kind of chauvinism that suggests with concern in Albert Camus famously said: "I love my country too much to be nationalist."
But it also opens the possibility of a move away from legacy Uribe on the negative side, which is grand: violation of human rights by security policy focused on results and not very demanding with respect the law, tolerance of corruption by top officials, attacks on the independence of the judiciary, high unemployment, collapse of social security system and, most alarming: the plight of four million displaced by the violence that the outgoing government seemed not to exist.
million peasants begging at traffic lights in cities are a shame that the country can not continue to tolerate. The main challenge for Santos in the social field will ensure that gains made in the field of conflict through the demobilization of paramilitaries and the guerrilla siege will translate well in the quiet visit to the farm for urban homeowners in the recovery plots for our farmers and boosting productivity.
The letter of support from the new President César Gaviria points to deselect when hypotheses emphasizes the need to correct the gross errors committed by the outgoing government and listening to the feeling of dissatisfaction with the corruption that is the green wave. This support, though qualified by Uribe's opportunistic (and is) can be interpreted as the opening in the emerging "Most Holy" a first path to an identity marked by new paths.
Santos While the response to the "unjustified" repairs Gaviria's letter and his statement in the penultimate televised debate that he was incapable of criticizing the administration of Alvaro Uribe suggest an unconditional continuity can also be read as the product of convenience elections. Under his leadership Juan Manuel Santos Uribe will show if it is a blind, as it did before winning the presidency, or is willing to correct the mistakes of his predecessor, who are not few. While indiscriminate amount of support collected on the road for his campaign points to the first, its historic ambition known as a statesman, based on his enormous capacity for management, suggests the latter.
0 comments:
Post a Comment