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The tale of two lame ducks
Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Should Portia Simpson Miller fail to win the general election, there is one person to shoulder most, if not all of the blame. That person is Mr PJ Patterson. Following the same train of thought, should Bruce Golding win, there is one person who can take none of the credit. That person is Edward Seaga.
Both men, PJ and Eddie, have left as their lasting legacy the fact that they flunked the final test to be sat by every leader. That final test, according to late management guru Peter Drucker, is that the leader leaves behind someone willing, able and confident to carry on.
Nothing that I have learned, taught or practised in the sweet science of management has helped me understand the route Mr Patterson took in selecting his successor. If the three-time champion at the national polls knew that Simpson Miller was the only chance of continuing the record into perpetuity, why did he not appoint her deputy prime minister long before he demitted office, assist her in overcoming her foibles and make for a smooth transition to prime minister? The unnecessary process of having the four top generals (Simpson Miller, Phillips, Davies and Blythe) engage in a $500,000 slug-fest left the once cohesive and resourceful People's National Party as a house that is divided against itself.
Edward Seaga, for his part, could not, after umpteen years at the helm of the Jamaica Labour Party, find anyone sufficiently made in his image in whom he could repose confidence. His intransigence in selecting a successor caused the heir apparent to bolt, appearing for a while to be more a gelding (a castrated colt with the energy and tendency to run from place to place) than a Golding. He is back in the fold now, but are his worries over? Anyone under the disillusion that they are need only ask these two questions. (1) Which prominent voices in the JLP have you not heard from in the current election campaign? (2) Who are the individuals that, having amassed great financial wealth, desire political power so badly that they would invest what must be approaching $1billion into a political campaign?
The path that Simpson Miller and Golding have had to tread to get to where they are today has made them vulnerable and alone. Without any proper succession plan or reliable internal support structure, they clawed their way to the top of their respective party hierarchy. The campaigns they lead are largely one-person affairs: two battle-scarred warriors engaged in one-hand combat with the other hand tied behind their back.
Let me be blunt so as to ensure no one reading this misses the point. In American politics there is a term used to describe politicians who find themselves in the lofty but unfortunate position of Simpson Miller and Golding: having the position but not the authority to rule. They are called lame ducks. To understand the term in context, think of a hen-pecked husband who must pander to every whim and fancy of his beautiful but over-aggressive spouse in order to get a little sex. Such a man is not going to feel as if he is the head of his household. Neither Simpson Miller nor Golding can claim to feel in control of the party to the extent that Patterson and Seaga did. Aristotle wisely philosophised that a man who cannot rule his house cannot effectively run a government.
We can learn something by studying how the Americans practise their politics. The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates each select as running mate someone who is appealing to the electorate and who in the event of victory at the polls will become vice-president. The key criterion then is for the individual who would be vice-president to himself look presidential. Succession to the highest office in the land is important to Americans when selecting the leader.
There are two tests to apply in determining how well this system works. The first is the ease with which vice-presidents have assumed the reins of power in those unfortunate cases where a president was unable to complete his term. The second is the frequency with which vice-presidents become their parties' choice to run for president when the president has completed his two terms of office. In both cases, there is nary a whimper from the ranks of elected officials, party loyalists or the electorate generally.
Now you see the weaknesses in our own system of party governance and the folly of Patterson and Seaga in how they approached the business of succession. I must research what if anything our constitution says about the office and selection of a deputy prime minister. The practice of morphing the presidency of the respective political parties with candidacy for the office of prime minister also needs to be carefully examined.
With the archaic and disruptive system that prevails in Jamaica, we are assured that whoever is prime minister after the polling ends on September 3, that person will have to spend considerable time and political capital settling scores and consolidating power within his or her own party. It does not take a prophet to foretell that while this is taking place, addressing the pressing affairs of the country will be put on hold.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Should Portia Simpson Miller fail to win the general election, there is one person to shoulder most, if not all of the blame. That person is Mr PJ Patterson. Following the same train of thought, should Bruce Golding win, there is one person who can take none of the credit. That person is Edward Seaga.
Both men, PJ and Eddie, have left as their lasting legacy the fact that they flunked the final test to be sat by every leader. That final test, according to late management guru Peter Drucker, is that the leader leaves behind someone willing, able and confident to carry on.
Nothing that I have learned, taught or practised in the sweet science of management has helped me understand the route Mr Patterson took in selecting his successor. If the three-time champion at the national polls knew that Simpson Miller was the only chance of continuing the record into perpetuity, why did he not appoint her deputy prime minister long before he demitted office, assist her in overcoming her foibles and make for a smooth transition to prime minister? The unnecessary process of having the four top generals (Simpson Miller, Phillips, Davies and Blythe) engage in a $500,000 slug-fest left the once cohesive and resourceful People's National Party as a house that is divided against itself.
Edward Seaga, for his part, could not, after umpteen years at the helm of the Jamaica Labour Party, find anyone sufficiently made in his image in whom he could repose confidence. His intransigence in selecting a successor caused the heir apparent to bolt, appearing for a while to be more a gelding (a castrated colt with the energy and tendency to run from place to place) than a Golding. He is back in the fold now, but are his worries over? Anyone under the disillusion that they are need only ask these two questions. (1) Which prominent voices in the JLP have you not heard from in the current election campaign? (2) Who are the individuals that, having amassed great financial wealth, desire political power so badly that they would invest what must be approaching $1billion into a political campaign?
The path that Simpson Miller and Golding have had to tread to get to where they are today has made them vulnerable and alone. Without any proper succession plan or reliable internal support structure, they clawed their way to the top of their respective party hierarchy. The campaigns they lead are largely one-person affairs: two battle-scarred warriors engaged in one-hand combat with the other hand tied behind their back.
Let me be blunt so as to ensure no one reading this misses the point. In American politics there is a term used to describe politicians who find themselves in the lofty but unfortunate position of Simpson Miller and Golding: having the position but not the authority to rule. They are called lame ducks. To understand the term in context, think of a hen-pecked husband who must pander to every whim and fancy of his beautiful but over-aggressive spouse in order to get a little sex. Such a man is not going to feel as if he is the head of his household. Neither Simpson Miller nor Golding can claim to feel in control of the party to the extent that Patterson and Seaga did. Aristotle wisely philosophised that a man who cannot rule his house cannot effectively run a government.
We can learn something by studying how the Americans practise their politics. The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates each select as running mate someone who is appealing to the electorate and who in the event of victory at the polls will become vice-president. The key criterion then is for the individual who would be vice-president to himself look presidential. Succession to the highest office in the land is important to Americans when selecting the leader.
There are two tests to apply in determining how well this system works. The first is the ease with which vice-presidents have assumed the reins of power in those unfortunate cases where a president was unable to complete his term. The second is the frequency with which vice-presidents become their parties' choice to run for president when the president has completed his two terms of office. In both cases, there is nary a whimper from the ranks of elected officials, party loyalists or the electorate generally.
Now you see the weaknesses in our own system of party governance and the folly of Patterson and Seaga in how they approached the business of succession. I must research what if anything our constitution says about the office and selection of a deputy prime minister. The practice of morphing the presidency of the respective political parties with candidacy for the office of prime minister also needs to be carefully examined.
With the archaic and disruptive system that prevails in Jamaica, we are assured that whoever is prime minister after the polling ends on September 3, that person will have to spend considerable time and political capital settling scores and consolidating power within his or her own party. It does not take a prophet to foretell that while this is taking place, addressing the pressing affairs of the country will be put on hold.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
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