Tweet
A marriage of inconvenience
Published: Tuesday | December 27, 2011
by Daniel Thwaites
If there is any truth to the rumour that the PNP was backing away from the debates and wanting to limit them, that has turned out to be a serious tactical error. It appears as if the PNP should have demanded twice as many debates and asked for them to last twice as long.
Despite all the candidate preparation, debates are unscripted events, and given time, the true personalities of the speakers ultimately shine through. This is tremendously valuable and could even have been enhanced through a discussion format.
I'm still thinking of questions that ought to have been asked and answered. Here's one! In American politics, candidates have to discuss and defend advertisements and public pronouncements made by their campaigns or by others on their behalf. It's a tricky thing, because no candidate has total control over what supporters may say or do. But they set a tone, and they send the message of what is acceptable.
Slipped out of the relationship
So it could have been very instructive for Andrew Holness and Portia Simpson Miller to be presented with the advertisements and public pronouncements of their surrogates to defend, explain or repudiate. Mr Holness would have to defend the G2K, and Mrs Simpson Miller could explain the claim that Mr Holness tried to box a female returning officer.
This election is so close, and the circumstances surrounding it so odd, that some further exploration of the leadership candidates' personalities could have been rewarding. Jamaica is, after all, recovering from a failed marriage. Golden-tongue Golding begged for the work then slipped out of the relationship in shame. He went quickly and with uncharacteristically few words.
Why had the relationship soured between the administration and the people? For the same reasons many relationships fail: lying, cheating, and neglect. One of the least discussed aspects of the government-wide conspiracy against Jamaica in favour of Dudus is that for the better part of two years the administration was absorbed with it and obviously paid attention to little else. Once it was over, the stories of how all the government departments and agencies (NWA, NSWMA, UDC, Customs, CTL, etc) had gone berserk started to surface. It's a mystery that Joy Douglas isn't a candidate!
So Mr Holness is prime minister as a result of JLP 'fixers' who settled upon him as the best face card to revive a discredited administration. Usually, if there's to be an arranged marriage, preparations are made from years earlier and both parties know what's coming. Not here. It occurred without anything much being said to Jamaica, as a shotgun wedding was also part of the arrangement. As is usually the case, the bride was already knocked up.
In fact, the wedding was so shotgun that a honeymoon is out of the question. We've been warned that early 2012 is a time for "bitter medicine", and the journalists have yet to find a champion who can deliver some information from the prime minister about what that will entail. The one metaphor we've been given hasn't been very encouraging. Eucalyptus oil at more than minuscule doses is toxic.
We have a tradition of a little romance before a marriage. The idea is to talk for a while before moving in together or even tying the knot so that you both can determine if it's a fling or a long-term thing. The curious circumstances under which Mr Holness came to sudden elevation has left a lingering question mark. How durable is this relationship? Would he survive as JLP leader after an electoral loss? Or would Shaw and Montague saddle up to ride?
Anyway, The Gleaner headline in front of me says 'Andrew slipping' and 'Poll numbers heading in the wrong direction for JLP leader'. So soon? Strange! People are just getting to know Mr Holness after the shotgun marriage of convenience. Was this anticipated? Is this why an election truck was driven through the Christmas holidays?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Let's all hope and work for a peaceful election exercise where being Jamaican is more important than being a Comrade or a Labourite, or neither.
I come from a family quite evenly split among the Orange-men and the Green-men, and when it's all over, we will all have to get back to life together. I want to wish a Merry Christmas season, a peaceful election, and a happy New Year to all readers.
Daniel Thwaites is a partner of Thwaites, Lundgren & D'Arcy in New York, and currently qualifying for the Jamaican Bar. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure2.html
Published: Tuesday | December 27, 2011
by Daniel Thwaites
If there is any truth to the rumour that the PNP was backing away from the debates and wanting to limit them, that has turned out to be a serious tactical error. It appears as if the PNP should have demanded twice as many debates and asked for them to last twice as long.
Despite all the candidate preparation, debates are unscripted events, and given time, the true personalities of the speakers ultimately shine through. This is tremendously valuable and could even have been enhanced through a discussion format.
I'm still thinking of questions that ought to have been asked and answered. Here's one! In American politics, candidates have to discuss and defend advertisements and public pronouncements made by their campaigns or by others on their behalf. It's a tricky thing, because no candidate has total control over what supporters may say or do. But they set a tone, and they send the message of what is acceptable.
Slipped out of the relationship
So it could have been very instructive for Andrew Holness and Portia Simpson Miller to be presented with the advertisements and public pronouncements of their surrogates to defend, explain or repudiate. Mr Holness would have to defend the G2K, and Mrs Simpson Miller could explain the claim that Mr Holness tried to box a female returning officer.
This election is so close, and the circumstances surrounding it so odd, that some further exploration of the leadership candidates' personalities could have been rewarding. Jamaica is, after all, recovering from a failed marriage. Golden-tongue Golding begged for the work then slipped out of the relationship in shame. He went quickly and with uncharacteristically few words.
Why had the relationship soured between the administration and the people? For the same reasons many relationships fail: lying, cheating, and neglect. One of the least discussed aspects of the government-wide conspiracy against Jamaica in favour of Dudus is that for the better part of two years the administration was absorbed with it and obviously paid attention to little else. Once it was over, the stories of how all the government departments and agencies (NWA, NSWMA, UDC, Customs, CTL, etc) had gone berserk started to surface. It's a mystery that Joy Douglas isn't a candidate!
So Mr Holness is prime minister as a result of JLP 'fixers' who settled upon him as the best face card to revive a discredited administration. Usually, if there's to be an arranged marriage, preparations are made from years earlier and both parties know what's coming. Not here. It occurred without anything much being said to Jamaica, as a shotgun wedding was also part of the arrangement. As is usually the case, the bride was already knocked up.
In fact, the wedding was so shotgun that a honeymoon is out of the question. We've been warned that early 2012 is a time for "bitter medicine", and the journalists have yet to find a champion who can deliver some information from the prime minister about what that will entail. The one metaphor we've been given hasn't been very encouraging. Eucalyptus oil at more than minuscule doses is toxic.
We have a tradition of a little romance before a marriage. The idea is to talk for a while before moving in together or even tying the knot so that you both can determine if it's a fling or a long-term thing. The curious circumstances under which Mr Holness came to sudden elevation has left a lingering question mark. How durable is this relationship? Would he survive as JLP leader after an electoral loss? Or would Shaw and Montague saddle up to ride?
Anyway, The Gleaner headline in front of me says 'Andrew slipping' and 'Poll numbers heading in the wrong direction for JLP leader'. So soon? Strange! People are just getting to know Mr Holness after the shotgun marriage of convenience. Was this anticipated? Is this why an election truck was driven through the Christmas holidays?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Let's all hope and work for a peaceful election exercise where being Jamaican is more important than being a Comrade or a Labourite, or neither.
I come from a family quite evenly split among the Orange-men and the Green-men, and when it's all over, we will all have to get back to life together. I want to wish a Merry Christmas season, a peaceful election, and a happy New Year to all readers.
Daniel Thwaites is a partner of Thwaites, Lundgren & D'Arcy in New York, and currently qualifying for the Jamaican Bar. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure2.html