Tweet
Golding takes charge
Mark Wignall
Thursday, August 02, 2007
In the months leading up to the October 1980 general elections, the cry from the JLP platform was, "Deliverance is near". About nine years before that, in the PNP's campaign leading up to the February 1972 elections, the PNP's slogans were, "The word is love" and "Power for the people". A popular song at the time was Delroy Wilson's Better must come, and the PNP pounced on it and made it one of their campaign anthems.
Mark Wignall
I was just a little over 21 years old in the early months of 1972 but I cannot recall much being said by the JLP and the PNP about their policies. To me, Michael Manley was this bright spark; an orator who stirred within me a need to support him over what I saw as the moribund politics of the JLP and then Prime Minister Hugh Shearer.
By 1980 that dream that Manley had inspired in us had evaporated and because so much of what his very presence on the political scene promised, when the nation turned against him for failing to present us with a "new Jerusalem", it did so with a vengeance, causing the PNP a near wipe-out in the October elections.
So ripped apart was the social fabric of the country and so tenuous and uncertain was the economic picture that Seaga had no choice but to deal with governance from day one of his election. Right after the nation was indeed "delivered" from the ruinous economic policies of the PNP and Manley's socio-political experimentations, we moved our focus to Eddie Seaga.
Try as he did, the nation had no love for him. Once he took power the nation was unconcerned that between 1974 and 1980 the PNP had managed to whittle away 25 per cent of the economic worth of the country. While Seaga worked 20-hour days trying to bring sense to the hodgepodge he had inherited, by 1982, Carl Stone's polls were showing that the JLP was a minority government.
GOLDING...came across as 'the man', the leader in charge of a government-in-waiting
The rest, as they say, is history. Between 1985 and 1989, the economy had begun to grow moderately. In February 1989 the nation decided to renew its love affair with Michael Manley and re-elected a Manley-led PNP. Later, Manley did this country a huge disfavour by unleashing on us his successor, PJ Patterson. Patterson had probably known that his leader had been ill from 1985, but when he issued his "I shall return" promise in 1991, he was firmly in touch with the delegate base and the motions of power inside the PNP.
In hindsight, PJ Patterson must have known that there were no challengers. When Portia Simpson challenged him, she was out of touch with reality. That reality was that Patterson wanted to break the back of patrician leadership (read Manley) in the PNP and he saw himself as the ideal candidate for that. He had leadership qualities and she had little. Patterson could address people in a caucus or chair meetings. Simpson could address people but only in a platform or shout to a crowd.
In 2006, we were given the chance to do business with her. In 2007 with an election upon us, Patterson seems still unconvinced that Portia has grown much from 1991. Because of that, the PNP is still promoting Patterson who has probably now realised that the lady whom he promoted in 2006 as the "only hope" for the PNP has dashed it all against the rocks. In 2007 PJ Patterson has brought back himself to rescue the lady as he did when he debated with her and was forced to pull her up and out of her embarrassment. PJ Patterson is now the "great lost hope".
With the launch of the JLP's manifesto, much more has been achieved for the JLP than that associated with the usual manifesto launch. First, at the launch, Golding came across as "the man", the leader in charge of a government-in-waiting. Second, in areas where the proposed JLP policies needed massaging, Golding masterfully took charge and presented us with more than just a whiff of what his leadership beyond his party would be.
In all of the many months of the JLP's campaigning, Golding has finally presented me with what I had been looking for in him. The ability to think publicly through proposals, flesh them out, bring his stamp of leadership to the JLP campaign and, hopefully, to the nation.
The fact is, in the PNP, the leader is still in the mode of old, over-worn politics and it is obvious that Portia Simpson Miller has not advanced much, if any, from the time of her debate nightmare with PJ Patterson in 1991.
What do we want in our leaders? Sensible leadership? The ability to "reason with us" as we work through our problems in the search for solutions? Do we want a Bruce Golding who fits that bill, or are we into visiting a stage show to watch Portia dance and blow a cow horn?
PNP trying to avoid debates?
With the PNP now saying that it will talk to the JLP on "peace" matters having to do with the troubling political campaign, I sense that the PNP is trying to set up a scenario whereby a war of words will trigger its representatives into saying, "An yuh know som'ting else, we nuh inna no debate wid yuh eida."
It is no secret that the PNP is deathly afraid of a one-on-one debate between Golding and Simpson Miller. Outside of that, the PNP is hoping that not many sensible people will watch or listen, and in the end, award in their minds the winning position to "Poo-sha".
In the last few years, the following women were elected to lead their country: 2005, Angela Merkel (PhD, physics) German Chancellor; 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Harvard-educated economist) President of Liberia; 2006, Michelle Bachelet (MD - surgeon) President of Chile; 2006, Portia Simpson Miller (career politician) Prime Minister of Jamaica.
As far as I am aware, Merkel, Johnson-Sirleaf and Bachelet all met with the press shortly after their elections in an effort to explain their road maps to development. Only one leader has not met with the press in an interview. That leader is the Jamaican prime minister. Why?
Now, after Bruce Golding's mastery (I use the word with no apologies), in his manifesto presentation, we are led to believe that much of the development which we thought was improbable is very likely to happen under a Prime Minister Golding.
And we believe that leaders of the ilk of Merkel, Johnson-Sirleaf, Bachelet and Golding would not be afraid to debate with anyone. The question is, who is afraid to debate with Golding and why?
observemark@gmail.com
---------------
Mark: You shall...and Bruce will have his debate.
Mark Wignall
Thursday, August 02, 2007
In the months leading up to the October 1980 general elections, the cry from the JLP platform was, "Deliverance is near". About nine years before that, in the PNP's campaign leading up to the February 1972 elections, the PNP's slogans were, "The word is love" and "Power for the people". A popular song at the time was Delroy Wilson's Better must come, and the PNP pounced on it and made it one of their campaign anthems.
Mark WignallI was just a little over 21 years old in the early months of 1972 but I cannot recall much being said by the JLP and the PNP about their policies. To me, Michael Manley was this bright spark; an orator who stirred within me a need to support him over what I saw as the moribund politics of the JLP and then Prime Minister Hugh Shearer.
By 1980 that dream that Manley had inspired in us had evaporated and because so much of what his very presence on the political scene promised, when the nation turned against him for failing to present us with a "new Jerusalem", it did so with a vengeance, causing the PNP a near wipe-out in the October elections.
So ripped apart was the social fabric of the country and so tenuous and uncertain was the economic picture that Seaga had no choice but to deal with governance from day one of his election. Right after the nation was indeed "delivered" from the ruinous economic policies of the PNP and Manley's socio-political experimentations, we moved our focus to Eddie Seaga.
Try as he did, the nation had no love for him. Once he took power the nation was unconcerned that between 1974 and 1980 the PNP had managed to whittle away 25 per cent of the economic worth of the country. While Seaga worked 20-hour days trying to bring sense to the hodgepodge he had inherited, by 1982, Carl Stone's polls were showing that the JLP was a minority government.
GOLDING...came across as 'the man', the leader in charge of a government-in-waiting The rest, as they say, is history. Between 1985 and 1989, the economy had begun to grow moderately. In February 1989 the nation decided to renew its love affair with Michael Manley and re-elected a Manley-led PNP. Later, Manley did this country a huge disfavour by unleashing on us his successor, PJ Patterson. Patterson had probably known that his leader had been ill from 1985, but when he issued his "I shall return" promise in 1991, he was firmly in touch with the delegate base and the motions of power inside the PNP.
In hindsight, PJ Patterson must have known that there were no challengers. When Portia Simpson challenged him, she was out of touch with reality. That reality was that Patterson wanted to break the back of patrician leadership (read Manley) in the PNP and he saw himself as the ideal candidate for that. He had leadership qualities and she had little. Patterson could address people in a caucus or chair meetings. Simpson could address people but only in a platform or shout to a crowd.
In 2006, we were given the chance to do business with her. In 2007 with an election upon us, Patterson seems still unconvinced that Portia has grown much from 1991. Because of that, the PNP is still promoting Patterson who has probably now realised that the lady whom he promoted in 2006 as the "only hope" for the PNP has dashed it all against the rocks. In 2007 PJ Patterson has brought back himself to rescue the lady as he did when he debated with her and was forced to pull her up and out of her embarrassment. PJ Patterson is now the "great lost hope".
With the launch of the JLP's manifesto, much more has been achieved for the JLP than that associated with the usual manifesto launch. First, at the launch, Golding came across as "the man", the leader in charge of a government-in-waiting. Second, in areas where the proposed JLP policies needed massaging, Golding masterfully took charge and presented us with more than just a whiff of what his leadership beyond his party would be.
In all of the many months of the JLP's campaigning, Golding has finally presented me with what I had been looking for in him. The ability to think publicly through proposals, flesh them out, bring his stamp of leadership to the JLP campaign and, hopefully, to the nation.
The fact is, in the PNP, the leader is still in the mode of old, over-worn politics and it is obvious that Portia Simpson Miller has not advanced much, if any, from the time of her debate nightmare with PJ Patterson in 1991.
What do we want in our leaders? Sensible leadership? The ability to "reason with us" as we work through our problems in the search for solutions? Do we want a Bruce Golding who fits that bill, or are we into visiting a stage show to watch Portia dance and blow a cow horn?
PNP trying to avoid debates?
With the PNP now saying that it will talk to the JLP on "peace" matters having to do with the troubling political campaign, I sense that the PNP is trying to set up a scenario whereby a war of words will trigger its representatives into saying, "An yuh know som'ting else, we nuh inna no debate wid yuh eida."
It is no secret that the PNP is deathly afraid of a one-on-one debate between Golding and Simpson Miller. Outside of that, the PNP is hoping that not many sensible people will watch or listen, and in the end, award in their minds the winning position to "Poo-sha".
In the last few years, the following women were elected to lead their country: 2005, Angela Merkel (PhD, physics) German Chancellor; 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Harvard-educated economist) President of Liberia; 2006, Michelle Bachelet (MD - surgeon) President of Chile; 2006, Portia Simpson Miller (career politician) Prime Minister of Jamaica.
As far as I am aware, Merkel, Johnson-Sirleaf and Bachelet all met with the press shortly after their elections in an effort to explain their road maps to development. Only one leader has not met with the press in an interview. That leader is the Jamaican prime minister. Why?
Now, after Bruce Golding's mastery (I use the word with no apologies), in his manifesto presentation, we are led to believe that much of the development which we thought was improbable is very likely to happen under a Prime Minister Golding.
And we believe that leaders of the ilk of Merkel, Johnson-Sirleaf, Bachelet and Golding would not be afraid to debate with anyone. The question is, who is afraid to debate with Golding and why?
observemark@gmail.com
---------------
Mark: You shall...and Bruce will have his debate.
Comment