Sorry for the lack of activity lately, but I've been watching, increasingly with bewilderment, the US party conventions, which are at best staged news but seem to be moving into the parallel universe territory now.
The Gazette also yesterday had a piece on the complicated relationship that many Bermudians have with Obama, which is something that I've been thinking and writing about for some time now.
If you're sick of my comparisons to US politics then stop reading now, but the Republican and Democratic conventions have really crystalised for me the parallels that I've discussed previously between the PLP and modern day US Republicanism and the UBP and the Democrats.
Firstly, on Obama, I admit I'm an admirer, but I should probably stipulate that Bermuda's interest in this US election is certainly with a McCain presidency, in the sense that Obama has made targeting non-American jurisdictions a central plank in his economic plan.
I say 'non-American' for a reason, because 'offshore' is a perspective not a location. The US is offshore to me, and any attempt to penalise Bermuda companies because of the US's own ridiculous tax code is something that we should all be concerned about and will have real consequences for Bermuda.
Generally these threats have been empty Democratic party rhetoric in the past 2 or 3 US elections; the US's economic problems and need to generate more tax revenue to pay for the debt generated by the war(s) make these more real this time around.
However, setting Bermuda's interest aside, I find Obama a very compelling, intelligent, charismatic politician who as I've said before is trying to combat a formidable political machine, and he's trying to do it by (largely) rejecting the traditional culture wars, identity politics and elevate the tone of Presidential politics.
That to me, is the same challenge that the UBP have proven unable to master in Bermuda (which I wrote about here recently), with the PLP's political playbook of exploiting racial tensions and divisions, emphasising political identity and a bare knuckle street fight style of campaigning.
Obama summed up to me very well the Bermuda dynamic in a recent 60 Minutes interview where he said:
The Republicans don't govern very well. But, they know how to campaign.
That's precisely how I would categorise the PLP: they're great campaigners.
You're seeing that right now, with the PLP (or at least the Brown loyalists) in full campaign mode until the PLP delegates conference in October after a rocky first half of 2008.
I predict that, for example, Brown's embrace of a 35 hour work week will get lots of lip service as the BIU core probably overlap heavily with the party delegates who will have a say in any PLP leadership challenge in October.
As soon as that leadership vote is done, and assuming Ewart Brown is successful, that's the last you'll hear of it.
It will go the way of the Workplace Equity Act, Goodwill Plus, the St. George's Police Station renovation, free daycare and any other host of broken promises.
During a campaign, and the PLP are pretty much in a constant campaign, they'll say anything and promise anything, even things they previously opposed (35 hour work week in 2006) or ultimately support (the UBP's means tested daycare proposal). The PLP's 2007 election platform was for all intents and purposes the UBP's ideas + 10%.
The UBP said St. George's needs a Police Station, the PLP send the Hustle Truck.
The UBP promised means tested daycare, the PLP say daycare for everyone.
That was the way the election went almost on a daily basis.
Now, I know I'm rambling because it's getting late, but back to my main point, the UBP have proven unable to articulate with brevity the problems with the PLP's style of campaigning, and also seem unwilling to fight back with any sort of vigor.
So I defer to Obama, in his 2008 Democratic Convention speech, to describe all that is wrong with the politics that the PLP are practising today, that of demonising any critics as racists, angry partisans and pseudo foreigners:
Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.You make a big election about small things.
And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it.
I get it too.
The PLP don't have a record, and much of what they claimed was their record during the election was a fraud and is crumbling under the weight of its spin - 'increasing tourism' and 'declining crime' for example, so they painted their 'opponent as someone people should run from.'
That much is undeniable, with the ads that Michael Dunkley was 'out to get you', supported lynching, wanting to 'lock everyone up'. It was shallow, crass and despicable.
But it was also successful.
So as I watched the Republicans over the past few nights try to paint Obama as someone people should run from, I grew weary and appalled. It all felt too familiar, so eventually, tonight I just had to turn the TV off.
There is a better way.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy