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Charisma vs sour grapes
published: Sunday | July 8, 2007
Lambert Brown, Contributor
By the end of today, it is expected that we should be aware of the date of our15th general election. I expect a very short and intense campaign among the parties. What we do not want is a return to the unsavoury behaviour by political activists who set our people against each other like warring tribes.
Indeed, we can be thankful that so far, the campaigning has been fairly peaceful but for a few sad incidents. The extent to which the campaign remains peaceful depends to a large measure on how our political leaders at the national and constituency levels conduct themselves. We must, therefore, demand a high degree of responsibility from our leaders in respect to their words and deeds during this 'silly season'.
Charisma
Last Sunday, the leader of the Opposition addressed a large turnout of his supporters in Mandeville. He lamented his own lack of charisma. He criticised persons like Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who are blessed with the gift of charisma. It was the memory of the evil Adolph Hitler and the butcher Idi Amin that he called forth in support of his diatribe against the charismatic Portia Simpson Miller. How does he expect his supporters to treat the Prime Minister when he lumps her with those despots?
Decency and statesmanship require that Mr. Golding withdraw and apologise for such irresponsible utterances. Love of country and the interest of our beautiful nation should trump narrow partisan or personal aggrandisement. In my view, the Opposition leader did himself and his party a disservice with that Mandeville speech.
Maybe Mr. Golding forgot that the first leader of the JLP was one Alexander Bustamante. He was charisma personified. Charisma was part of the charm of Hugh Lawson Shearer, Jamaica's and the JLP's third prime minister. Would the Opposition leader associate these great Jamaicans with Hitler? Would he associate our National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey with Idi Amin? Yet, Marcus was a charismatic leader with international appeal. There are those people who believe that Mr. Golding was more driven by the 'sour- grape' syndrome than by rational thinking.
Golding's 'sour-grape' approach
These people see the image of a beautiful and delicious bunch of grapes outside the reach of the hungry fox. In the fox's frustration, and because he can't reach the grapes, he declared them to be sour. I am reminded that only a couple months ago, the Opposition leader declared that he would never accept the title of 'Most Honourable Prime Minister'. For his opponents, this is yet another confirmation of Golding's 'sour-grape' approach to life. It is, therefore, in the JLP's interest that its party leader not come across as suffering from an affliction of acute 'bad-mindedness'. If this diagnosis holds, then for many people, it will be a feeling of déjà vu; a Golding, of garrison politics, 'associated with gunmen', rather than the reformed NDM leader. The coming days will reveal which of the perceptions finds resonance with the majority of Jamaican people.
It appears to me that this election campaign is essentially going to be about which leader the people trust the most. While there is no doubt about the importance of local constituency issues, people are going to subordinate these and go for a presidential approach to this election.
Many of those who think only of local issues will tend to abstain from the voting process. The hype of the campaign is going to awaken the base of each party and then pull many of the uncommitted to deliver a comfortable and working majority for any party that wins the election.
I think many of the undecided will judge harshly any party which breaks the predominantly peaceful nature of the current campaign. They do not want to go back to the violence of past elections. For them, the vision of orange and green-clad Jamaicans living in peace, love and harmony at election time is a very appealing. This is a guarantee for their future safety because they perceive a link between politics and violence. The undecided will also judge the promises and advertisements by the parties, for honesty and realism. The undecided, some of whom see themselves as part of a more mature and wiser voting population, will not be fooled by pretty talk and slick advertisements. They now have access to education and up-to-date information, which the technological revolution has made possible via media like the Internet, television, radio and the printing press.
Deceptive advertisement
Politicians and their campaign teams had better be aware that deceptive advertisements, which take matters out of context, may 'ring good' with the party base, but will be seen as dishonest and unworthy by well-thinking Jamaicans.
Like the majority of Jamaicans, I am interested in the performance of people now and in the past. Tell me what the respective achievements were when each enjoyed the privileges of stewardship. Should I expect a Cabinet drawn predominantly from the old guard of the 1980s JLP government, as reflected by the current 'Shadow Cabinet', to outperform a team with forty per cent new candidates? Certainly, that is one question I will have to decide when I enter the polling station.
Finally, I will also have regard for the reality of numerous real and productive investments, already taking place and planned for the near future, which have had a positive impact on the lives of our people.
I am likely to reject the extremist view that 'Jamaica mash up'. Like the result of the private-sector-conducted confidence survey, I feel very positive about our future.
Lambert Brown is president of the University and Allied Workers' Union and may be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.
published: Sunday | July 8, 2007
Lambert Brown, Contributor
By the end of today, it is expected that we should be aware of the date of our15th general election. I expect a very short and intense campaign among the parties. What we do not want is a return to the unsavoury behaviour by political activists who set our people against each other like warring tribes.
Indeed, we can be thankful that so far, the campaigning has been fairly peaceful but for a few sad incidents. The extent to which the campaign remains peaceful depends to a large measure on how our political leaders at the national and constituency levels conduct themselves. We must, therefore, demand a high degree of responsibility from our leaders in respect to their words and deeds during this 'silly season'.
Charisma
Last Sunday, the leader of the Opposition addressed a large turnout of his supporters in Mandeville. He lamented his own lack of charisma. He criticised persons like Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who are blessed with the gift of charisma. It was the memory of the evil Adolph Hitler and the butcher Idi Amin that he called forth in support of his diatribe against the charismatic Portia Simpson Miller. How does he expect his supporters to treat the Prime Minister when he lumps her with those despots?
Decency and statesmanship require that Mr. Golding withdraw and apologise for such irresponsible utterances. Love of country and the interest of our beautiful nation should trump narrow partisan or personal aggrandisement. In my view, the Opposition leader did himself and his party a disservice with that Mandeville speech.
Maybe Mr. Golding forgot that the first leader of the JLP was one Alexander Bustamante. He was charisma personified. Charisma was part of the charm of Hugh Lawson Shearer, Jamaica's and the JLP's third prime minister. Would the Opposition leader associate these great Jamaicans with Hitler? Would he associate our National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey with Idi Amin? Yet, Marcus was a charismatic leader with international appeal. There are those people who believe that Mr. Golding was more driven by the 'sour- grape' syndrome than by rational thinking.
Golding's 'sour-grape' approach
These people see the image of a beautiful and delicious bunch of grapes outside the reach of the hungry fox. In the fox's frustration, and because he can't reach the grapes, he declared them to be sour. I am reminded that only a couple months ago, the Opposition leader declared that he would never accept the title of 'Most Honourable Prime Minister'. For his opponents, this is yet another confirmation of Golding's 'sour-grape' approach to life. It is, therefore, in the JLP's interest that its party leader not come across as suffering from an affliction of acute 'bad-mindedness'. If this diagnosis holds, then for many people, it will be a feeling of déjà vu; a Golding, of garrison politics, 'associated with gunmen', rather than the reformed NDM leader. The coming days will reveal which of the perceptions finds resonance with the majority of Jamaican people.
It appears to me that this election campaign is essentially going to be about which leader the people trust the most. While there is no doubt about the importance of local constituency issues, people are going to subordinate these and go for a presidential approach to this election.
Many of those who think only of local issues will tend to abstain from the voting process. The hype of the campaign is going to awaken the base of each party and then pull many of the uncommitted to deliver a comfortable and working majority for any party that wins the election.
I think many of the undecided will judge harshly any party which breaks the predominantly peaceful nature of the current campaign. They do not want to go back to the violence of past elections. For them, the vision of orange and green-clad Jamaicans living in peace, love and harmony at election time is a very appealing. This is a guarantee for their future safety because they perceive a link between politics and violence. The undecided will also judge the promises and advertisements by the parties, for honesty and realism. The undecided, some of whom see themselves as part of a more mature and wiser voting population, will not be fooled by pretty talk and slick advertisements. They now have access to education and up-to-date information, which the technological revolution has made possible via media like the Internet, television, radio and the printing press.
Deceptive advertisement
Politicians and their campaign teams had better be aware that deceptive advertisements, which take matters out of context, may 'ring good' with the party base, but will be seen as dishonest and unworthy by well-thinking Jamaicans.
Like the majority of Jamaicans, I am interested in the performance of people now and in the past. Tell me what the respective achievements were when each enjoyed the privileges of stewardship. Should I expect a Cabinet drawn predominantly from the old guard of the 1980s JLP government, as reflected by the current 'Shadow Cabinet', to outperform a team with forty per cent new candidates? Certainly, that is one question I will have to decide when I enter the polling station.
Finally, I will also have regard for the reality of numerous real and productive investments, already taking place and planned for the near future, which have had a positive impact on the lives of our people.
I am likely to reject the extremist view that 'Jamaica mash up'. Like the result of the private-sector-conducted confidence survey, I feel very positive about our future.
Lambert Brown is president of the University and Allied Workers' Union and may be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.