Tweet
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>JLP should avoid the 'win already' syndrome</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Christopher Burns
Monday, November 27, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>They came in buses and in motorcars. They rode bikes or simply walked to the National Arena to hear their leader outline his and the party's vision for Jamaica. The Jamaica Labour Party can be justly proud that after several months of campaigning, several million dollars in electronic and print advertisements and over 500 visits to some 22 constituencies, it mobilised and turned out one of the largest political conferences ever held at the National Arena.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=70 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Christopher Burns</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>However, while strong crowd support is an essential motivational tool, political parties must be careful not to use it as a reliable barometer of national support, to the extent that they prematurely declare "we win already". For, what might very well have been the largest gathering of labourites could just translate into the largest political defeat on election day - just ask the PNP about its 1980 Sam Sharpe Square declaration. No one should attempt to diminish the significance of the superb organisational and mobilisational efforts that went into this sterling performance by the JLP.<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, it appears premature and unwise for commentators to be so summarily dismissive of Portia, as a political neophyte. Truth is, in spite of all the negatives, she is still enormously popular and well-loved among the poorer class - the class most likely to go out and vote, and the same class that is most intolerant of people "taking liberty" with Sista P.<P class=StoryText align=justify>On the face of it, Bruce Golding deserves accolades for uniting the once fractious and factious party. For while no political party is ever 100 per cent united, it is reasonable to say that Bruce has managed to contain much of the internal squabble and is well on his way to uproot the over-sustained grotesquery of dark conspiracies and tame the "carry-go-bring-come" culture which haunted the party for too long and turned off many for years.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is to his credit that the JLP has morphed from the unelectable party it was in recent times into the formidable and viable political force it is today. And, from the look of things (not just based on last week Sunday's crowd), the JLP is definitely enjoying a political renaissance, the quality of which is fascinating. And, because its rebirth is analogous to a plant of slow growth, it is going to be difficult to ignore the enthusiasm surrounding the political beauty of its blossoms.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This, notwithstanding, the JLP cannot afford to lose its post-conference momentum, and cannot take recent poll findings for granted. For, if it does, never mind what now appears to be a bewildered or fatigued PNP, the Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP machinery and organisational prowess can still be activated at short notice to trounce the JLP into schoolboy submission.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>GOLDING... deserves accolades for uniting the once fractious and factious JLP </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Regardless of how one views Bruce Golding's credibility, hardly anyone can
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Christopher Burns
Monday, November 27, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>They came in buses and in motorcars. They rode bikes or simply walked to the National Arena to hear their leader outline his and the party's vision for Jamaica. The Jamaica Labour Party can be justly proud that after several months of campaigning, several million dollars in electronic and print advertisements and over 500 visits to some 22 constituencies, it mobilised and turned out one of the largest political conferences ever held at the National Arena.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=70 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Christopher Burns</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>However, while strong crowd support is an essential motivational tool, political parties must be careful not to use it as a reliable barometer of national support, to the extent that they prematurely declare "we win already". For, what might very well have been the largest gathering of labourites could just translate into the largest political defeat on election day - just ask the PNP about its 1980 Sam Sharpe Square declaration. No one should attempt to diminish the significance of the superb organisational and mobilisational efforts that went into this sterling performance by the JLP.<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, it appears premature and unwise for commentators to be so summarily dismissive of Portia, as a political neophyte. Truth is, in spite of all the negatives, she is still enormously popular and well-loved among the poorer class - the class most likely to go out and vote, and the same class that is most intolerant of people "taking liberty" with Sista P.<P class=StoryText align=justify>On the face of it, Bruce Golding deserves accolades for uniting the once fractious and factious party. For while no political party is ever 100 per cent united, it is reasonable to say that Bruce has managed to contain much of the internal squabble and is well on his way to uproot the over-sustained grotesquery of dark conspiracies and tame the "carry-go-bring-come" culture which haunted the party for too long and turned off many for years.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is to his credit that the JLP has morphed from the unelectable party it was in recent times into the formidable and viable political force it is today. And, from the look of things (not just based on last week Sunday's crowd), the JLP is definitely enjoying a political renaissance, the quality of which is fascinating. And, because its rebirth is analogous to a plant of slow growth, it is going to be difficult to ignore the enthusiasm surrounding the political beauty of its blossoms.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This, notwithstanding, the JLP cannot afford to lose its post-conference momentum, and cannot take recent poll findings for granted. For, if it does, never mind what now appears to be a bewildered or fatigued PNP, the Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP machinery and organisational prowess can still be activated at short notice to trounce the JLP into schoolboy submission.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>GOLDING... deserves accolades for uniting the once fractious and factious JLP </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Regardless of how one views Bruce Golding's credibility, hardly anyone can