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Playing the 'God Card' and other things
Barbara Gloudon
Friday, September 14, 2007
KING'S HOUSE on Tuesday afternoon September 11. The world and his wife were there, from home and abroad, to witness the swearing-in of Orette Bruce Golding, the eighth prime minister of Jamaica. It was an occasion of pomp and circumstance. Whoever was who, was there.
The media was out in full force; among them, representatives from other territories. I found myself next to the crew from Martinique and Guadeloupe. I didn't know that Jamaican affairs were of interest to the French Antilles. It is a new world.
So, there we were, in the September afternoon, gathered for ceremonies and excitement. We got some when the man whose name has been bandied about as one of the "richies", turned up, entourage and all. At first, he did not take his seat in the circle reserved for the Very Important but chose instead to sit in the media enclosure. Up to then, we could say that we knew Mr Michael Lee Chin to be many things, but certainly not a media personality. Well - live and learn.
Armed with photographic equipment of the highest quality, he moved gradually from the "press box" to the VIP area from where he proceeded to "shoot" the other notables. At times, more eyes seemed to be focused on him than on the stage where history was being made. Mr Golding might have been assured by his thumbs-up.
What was all that stuff our celeb photog was lugging around? A media photographer (a real one this time), enlightened me. It was a Canon E05 with telephoto zoom lens. "Real professional stuff," according to my source. He couldn't resist adding, "No lickle point and shoot, click and spin. We're talking about heavy stuff here. Budget couple thousand US if you want to play in that league." It turns out that our VIP has been a camera buff for some time and that this was not the first occasion that he had chosen to line up others in his lens publicly. When yuh big, yuh big.
OKAY, SO SIDESHOW APART, the swearing-in ceremony was well arranged and ran smoothly, two hours to the dot. Senator Oswald "Ossie" Harding headed the Planning Committee and was on his feet seeing to every detail, no doubt to avoid a repetition of Mrs Simpson Miller's ceremony last year, when Mr Golding found himself without a chair to sit on and retreated in a huff.
Well, this time, there was no need for a huff. He travelled in style and escorted his serene spouse down the red carpet. He not only had his own chair, he was master of his own stage, with a captive and attentive audience wherein you could find every leading member of the business community as well as the top civil servants, ambassadors, regional leaders from Caricom to Cuba and others of substance.
There was a whole section reserved for permanent secretaries, the real engines which make government run, never mind what politicians tell you. Besides the various public functionaries, there were, of course, the socialites, who ensure they're present, no matter "who a rule". They were all at Portia's session last March and they were there for Bruce on Tuesday too.
MR GOLDING focused a lot on unity and the way forward. This speech, like the election night victory acknowledgement, was rated once again as elegant and filled with promise. One noted personality described it to me as "Reagan-esque" and "in the spirit of John F Kennedy". I've never thought of Reagan and Kennedy in the same sentence together, however, but I take his word for it.
A business leader told me, with solemn conviction: "We must now unite, for if this doesn't work, then what will?" If I'm not mistaken, he said that last year, too. What the speech promised was a brighter day for Jamaica if we all could just get along. Mr Golding also extended the hand of friendship to the woman against whom he competed so fiercely a mere few days ago. "I want to sit down with you, Portia. Let's talk about Jamaica. Let's talk about the dream that I believe we share."
FROM HER SEAT in the front row, Mrs Simpson Miller, until recently the seventh prime minister of Jamaica, listened as the eighth prime minister declared that he wants to strengthen the role and authority of the Opposition, upon which Parliament's strength and effectiveness will depend. Will she and the PNP respond to the challenge?
EXCITING TIMES LIE AHEAD. We wish Mr Golding well and so we should, for his success or failure will be ours too. And what of Mrs Simpson Miller? Despite the aura of calm confidence which she exuded on Tuesday afternoon, she must be bruised and battered emotionally by the punishing and denigrating advertising war which was waged against her, and it's not over yet.
The letters and uncomplimentary remarks are continuing. Some of the partisan elements at Tuesday's gathering, confined to "the periphery" as a colleague and I agreed to call the area beyond the enclosure where the tappanaries were assembled, responded with boos and jeers at the mention of her name. From the upper echelons, there was nothing so crude, of course. Reaction was confined to tepid.
What a difference a year makes! Last March, the lawns of King's House pulsed with vibrancy and excitement as people rushed to adore Sista P, Mama P. Eighteen months later, another has taken her place in the public's affection. Many of whom were cheering her on last year have eyes now only for Brucie. And so another chapter in our history has been written.
ONE ASPECT of the developments in our new political culture which intrigues me is what I call the "God Card". Mrs Simpson Miller played it to the hilt, during her brief tenure from the time of her swearing-in last March to the end of her abbreviated rule on September 3. She prayed openly and publicly. She quoted Scripture. She made seemingly firm alliances with churches and their leaders. She recommended that pastors be given a place at the table of governance and she kept company with prophets. But that was yesterday...
In the course of campaigning, Mr Golding couldn't resist taking a jab at her and the God business. But lo and behold, when his turn came, he too played the God card. His speech on Tuesday had its share of religious allusions. He even ended up (let's say, unwittingly), appropriating one of Portia's favourite mantras: "Can't even walk without Him holding my hand." This was delivered in song by the Grace Thrillers at her inauguration and subsequently dedicated to her on other occasions.
Mr Golding spoke the words at his inauguration, this time in the plural:
"We can't even walk without Him holding our hands." He closed his oration with a prayer, which he said, had been commended to him by Mitsy, first wife of former PM Eddie Seaga, one of the three past prime ministers who were in the audience.
Just as Portia did her tour of churches the weekend immediately after her victory last year, so did Bruce. He worshipped last Saturday with the Seventh-Day Adventists, then on Sunday with the "first-day" people. Make what you will of it. The God card plays well every time.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE taken by our new PM on Tuesday was applauded by the audience, but who remembers the controversy around the late Michael Manley when he had the temerity in 1979 to say that Jamaican prime ministers should pledge allegiance, not to the Queen of England, her heirs and successors, but to the Jamaican people and their children? "Manley denounces the monarchy", one headline screamed. After him, PJ, Portia and now Bruce, have sworn allegiance to our own land and our own people... with our approval. Who remembers Michael's rebellion? Thanks anyway.
NEW DAY FOR I-DRIN: Any bets as to who influenced Mr Golding's reference "celebration of the Ethiopian New Year, which according to the Julian calendar, is the start of a new millennium, an important day for the Rastafarian Movement." No wonder a "bredrin" swooped across King's House grounds twirling flags of celebration. Yes, I!
bgloudon@yahoo.com
Barbara Gloudon
Friday, September 14, 2007
KING'S HOUSE on Tuesday afternoon September 11. The world and his wife were there, from home and abroad, to witness the swearing-in of Orette Bruce Golding, the eighth prime minister of Jamaica. It was an occasion of pomp and circumstance. Whoever was who, was there.
The media was out in full force; among them, representatives from other territories. I found myself next to the crew from Martinique and Guadeloupe. I didn't know that Jamaican affairs were of interest to the French Antilles. It is a new world.
So, there we were, in the September afternoon, gathered for ceremonies and excitement. We got some when the man whose name has been bandied about as one of the "richies", turned up, entourage and all. At first, he did not take his seat in the circle reserved for the Very Important but chose instead to sit in the media enclosure. Up to then, we could say that we knew Mr Michael Lee Chin to be many things, but certainly not a media personality. Well - live and learn.
Armed with photographic equipment of the highest quality, he moved gradually from the "press box" to the VIP area from where he proceeded to "shoot" the other notables. At times, more eyes seemed to be focused on him than on the stage where history was being made. Mr Golding might have been assured by his thumbs-up.
What was all that stuff our celeb photog was lugging around? A media photographer (a real one this time), enlightened me. It was a Canon E05 with telephoto zoom lens. "Real professional stuff," according to my source. He couldn't resist adding, "No lickle point and shoot, click and spin. We're talking about heavy stuff here. Budget couple thousand US if you want to play in that league." It turns out that our VIP has been a camera buff for some time and that this was not the first occasion that he had chosen to line up others in his lens publicly. When yuh big, yuh big.
OKAY, SO SIDESHOW APART, the swearing-in ceremony was well arranged and ran smoothly, two hours to the dot. Senator Oswald "Ossie" Harding headed the Planning Committee and was on his feet seeing to every detail, no doubt to avoid a repetition of Mrs Simpson Miller's ceremony last year, when Mr Golding found himself without a chair to sit on and retreated in a huff.
Well, this time, there was no need for a huff. He travelled in style and escorted his serene spouse down the red carpet. He not only had his own chair, he was master of his own stage, with a captive and attentive audience wherein you could find every leading member of the business community as well as the top civil servants, ambassadors, regional leaders from Caricom to Cuba and others of substance.
There was a whole section reserved for permanent secretaries, the real engines which make government run, never mind what politicians tell you. Besides the various public functionaries, there were, of course, the socialites, who ensure they're present, no matter "who a rule". They were all at Portia's session last March and they were there for Bruce on Tuesday too.
MR GOLDING focused a lot on unity and the way forward. This speech, like the election night victory acknowledgement, was rated once again as elegant and filled with promise. One noted personality described it to me as "Reagan-esque" and "in the spirit of John F Kennedy". I've never thought of Reagan and Kennedy in the same sentence together, however, but I take his word for it.
A business leader told me, with solemn conviction: "We must now unite, for if this doesn't work, then what will?" If I'm not mistaken, he said that last year, too. What the speech promised was a brighter day for Jamaica if we all could just get along. Mr Golding also extended the hand of friendship to the woman against whom he competed so fiercely a mere few days ago. "I want to sit down with you, Portia. Let's talk about Jamaica. Let's talk about the dream that I believe we share."
FROM HER SEAT in the front row, Mrs Simpson Miller, until recently the seventh prime minister of Jamaica, listened as the eighth prime minister declared that he wants to strengthen the role and authority of the Opposition, upon which Parliament's strength and effectiveness will depend. Will she and the PNP respond to the challenge?
EXCITING TIMES LIE AHEAD. We wish Mr Golding well and so we should, for his success or failure will be ours too. And what of Mrs Simpson Miller? Despite the aura of calm confidence which she exuded on Tuesday afternoon, she must be bruised and battered emotionally by the punishing and denigrating advertising war which was waged against her, and it's not over yet.
The letters and uncomplimentary remarks are continuing. Some of the partisan elements at Tuesday's gathering, confined to "the periphery" as a colleague and I agreed to call the area beyond the enclosure where the tappanaries were assembled, responded with boos and jeers at the mention of her name. From the upper echelons, there was nothing so crude, of course. Reaction was confined to tepid.
What a difference a year makes! Last March, the lawns of King's House pulsed with vibrancy and excitement as people rushed to adore Sista P, Mama P. Eighteen months later, another has taken her place in the public's affection. Many of whom were cheering her on last year have eyes now only for Brucie. And so another chapter in our history has been written.
ONE ASPECT of the developments in our new political culture which intrigues me is what I call the "God Card". Mrs Simpson Miller played it to the hilt, during her brief tenure from the time of her swearing-in last March to the end of her abbreviated rule on September 3. She prayed openly and publicly. She quoted Scripture. She made seemingly firm alliances with churches and their leaders. She recommended that pastors be given a place at the table of governance and she kept company with prophets. But that was yesterday...
In the course of campaigning, Mr Golding couldn't resist taking a jab at her and the God business. But lo and behold, when his turn came, he too played the God card. His speech on Tuesday had its share of religious allusions. He even ended up (let's say, unwittingly), appropriating one of Portia's favourite mantras: "Can't even walk without Him holding my hand." This was delivered in song by the Grace Thrillers at her inauguration and subsequently dedicated to her on other occasions.
Mr Golding spoke the words at his inauguration, this time in the plural:
"We can't even walk without Him holding our hands." He closed his oration with a prayer, which he said, had been commended to him by Mitsy, first wife of former PM Eddie Seaga, one of the three past prime ministers who were in the audience.
Just as Portia did her tour of churches the weekend immediately after her victory last year, so did Bruce. He worshipped last Saturday with the Seventh-Day Adventists, then on Sunday with the "first-day" people. Make what you will of it. The God card plays well every time.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE taken by our new PM on Tuesday was applauded by the audience, but who remembers the controversy around the late Michael Manley when he had the temerity in 1979 to say that Jamaican prime ministers should pledge allegiance, not to the Queen of England, her heirs and successors, but to the Jamaican people and their children? "Manley denounces the monarchy", one headline screamed. After him, PJ, Portia and now Bruce, have sworn allegiance to our own land and our own people... with our approval. Who remembers Michael's rebellion? Thanks anyway.
NEW DAY FOR I-DRIN: Any bets as to who influenced Mr Golding's reference "celebration of the Ethiopian New Year, which according to the Julian calendar, is the start of a new millennium, an important day for the Rastafarian Movement." No wonder a "bredrin" swooped across King's House grounds twirling flags of celebration. Yes, I!
bgloudon@yahoo.com