Thursday, September 11, 2008

Here's One I Prepared Earlier

What have you come here for?” was the contemptuous question tossed at Prime Minister Zapatero by PP leader Mariano Rajoy yesterday after Zapatero's speech in Parliament on the economic crisis. Rajoy went on to talk about the “sincere perplexity” he felt after paying close attention to what Zapatero had said. The only problem with this demonstration of sincerity is that these same words were included in the copy of Rajoy's speech distributed to journalists before Zapatero had even uttered a word.

The PP is determined that all political debate shall focus solely on the issue of the economy and the alleged failings of the government in dealing with the crisis. So any other issue is routinely dismissed by the PP as an attempt to divert attention, an excuse which PP representatives then use to avoid talking at all about the issue concerned. Now that governments have effectively surrendered most of the control they might have over economic developments this would make life very dull indeed, as the PP insist on trying to suggest that it is only Zapatero's administration that is to blame for the current economic troubles.

Now although it's likely that the government is relieved to be able to talk about other things than the economy, it's not so likely that they are reforming the abortion law or proposing legislation on voluntary euthanasia with this as the sole objective. Which is not say there aren't political forces at play, but the objective is almost certainly to try and force the “new model” PP to define itself. The strategy of the PP is to avoid putting off any potential voters by appearing to represent only the most reactionary sectors of society. The government's announced measures put them in the quandary of deciding whether they will take to the streets again, or just vote against the new legislation with the pathetic argument that it is not about the economy.

1 comment:

Troy said...

This "diversion" argument completely baffles me, though it does seem to working with the sheep.

How is it that a government cannot focus or deal with 2 things at the same time? As if somehow the 'ley de memoria' somehow would get in the way of budget planning, pensions and transport? Seriously, it confuses me. Using this logic, is the government only able to do one thing at a time?

On a much smaller scale, though in the same vein, the PP are using the same argument out here in Caceres. A secular group has asked the town hall to take down a very visible cross in the main events hall and the PP has come out saying that the government has "more important issues to deal with". As though getting a technician to come and take it down, thus respecting the secular nature of the Spanish constitution would take more than 5 minutes?

The worrying thing is that it seems to be working!?
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