Editor-in-Chief
All presidents elected since 1983 were
lawyers graduated from one of the three major state universities:
Buenos Aires (UCR Raúl Alfonsín), Córdoba (Peronist Carlos Menem and
Radical Fernando de la Rua) and La Plata (Peronists Néstor and Cristina
Kirchner). This will not be the case of the one who will take office 10
December. Two of them, the dissident Peronist Sergio Massa and the
front-runner Daniel Scioli, recently obtained their degrees from private
universities like someone completing the paperwork to run for
president. Massa scored nine in the subject Labour Law in the final exam
at the University of Belgrano, just before the 2013 mid-term elections,
while Scioli picked up a degree in Marketing at the Argentine Business
University (UADE) earlier this month, obtaining a seven in his final
thesis. Both rivals for the presidency dedicated their goals to their
parents. The third hopeful with some chances to win the presidency, the
conservative Mauricio Macri, had received his degree in engineering from
the Argentine Catholic University.
Not all the presidents of democracy were conspicuous for their general culture, their academic prestige or their elevated rhetoric. In their respective styles, Menem and Néstor Kirchner replaced their weak discursive skills by remarkable spontaneity and intuition to connect with the masses. Simple but compelling statements, gracefulness or sudden reactions came to the rescue when needed.
Instead, Scioli, Massa and Macri share — among several characteristics — a rather dull discursive profile. None shine in their professions, nor are they an intellectual reference, nor move audiences. The epic is absent in their political careers. Their answers in interviews hardly elude a flat, obvious script. Even jokes are missing in this presidential campaign.
The admen who created the respective television pieces underperformed. Perhaps because the polls show too tight numbers to elucidate whether the election will require a runoff, nobody is taking risks. We are watching precooked ads, even similar between rivals, soporific at times, which could have been produced a year ago without anyone noticing.
Macri’s bid was strengthened by the so-called divide, but at the same time, the acceptance of that strict division led the PRO to a strategic mistake. The Buenos Aires City mayor was able to muster votes from pure and stiff opposition, which is willing to pick anybody so long as the Kirchnerite cycle comes to an end. Perhaps encouraged by the micro-climate in the so-called “red circle”, Macri dismissed several times in the last few years any possibility that CFK’s government would avoid chaos and end up in absolute discredit. At the end of 12 years of Kirchnerism, the Argentine economy has problems but it is far from collapse, there is certain satisfaction from some of the rights that have been acquired and the presidential approval rating is among the highest in South America. When the candidate for PRO-Let’s Change took note of these circumstances, he tried to change tack but it was barely coherent. As such, one day Macri approves the idea that Kirchnerism carries with it an insurmountable burden and the next day promises to continue policies central to the government despite his opposition at the time when they were announced.
Massa took the opposite path. A public official in the Kirchnerite administrations, in 2013 became a dissident who sought to “continue the good and change the bad” and ended up with one of the harshest positions in the opposition on certain issues. He tells those in government: “I am going to put you in jail!”
“We took the centre and Massa grabbed the right” one of the PRO’s strategists bemoans these days, considering that he sees the rival Renewal Front still in with a chance. The former Tigre mayor puts out proposals that ended up in tragedy in the past both in Argentina and in Latin American countries such as the involvement of the military to combat drug-trafficking in poor neighbourhoods. Beyond some strident proclamations in favour of being tough on crime and against “slackers in La Cámpora,” precision is not Massa’s strong suit either.
In the case of Scioli, the lack of rhetorical clarity is a mark of an identity that has been accepted by his own and rivals, an element that the candidate has transformed from a weakness into a strength. With a lack of words that bring about clarity, it is possible to plot out the path that an eventual Scioli administration would follow by reading his Cabinet announcements in the last two weeks. The proposed ministers are a group of men and a woman from his inner circle and are relatively low profile, there are some Peronist strongmen from the provinces and agents of the law and order approach. The governor of the province of Buenos Aires did not have a structure of his own to call “Sciolism,” and as such he appealed to a conglomerate that is rather more a representation of “classic” Peronism.
Within Scioli’s team there is no trace of the nucleus that pays homage to the figure of CFK, of the most ideological Cristinism nor any centre-left leaders. Meanwhile, the governor of Salta, Juan Manuel Urtubey, who will “have an important role in the government” according to Scioli associates, has not wasted an opportunity this month to defy the current government’s central issues. It may be a preview of the battle that is to come, or a strategy to win the elusive two points that are necessary for Scioli to guarantee a victory without heading to a runoff. A week from the elections, the tensions have yet to bubble over.
@sebalacunza
Not all the presidents of democracy were conspicuous for their general culture, their academic prestige or their elevated rhetoric. In their respective styles, Menem and Néstor Kirchner replaced their weak discursive skills by remarkable spontaneity and intuition to connect with the masses. Simple but compelling statements, gracefulness or sudden reactions came to the rescue when needed.
Instead, Scioli, Massa and Macri share — among several characteristics — a rather dull discursive profile. None shine in their professions, nor are they an intellectual reference, nor move audiences. The epic is absent in their political careers. Their answers in interviews hardly elude a flat, obvious script. Even jokes are missing in this presidential campaign.
The admen who created the respective television pieces underperformed. Perhaps because the polls show too tight numbers to elucidate whether the election will require a runoff, nobody is taking risks. We are watching precooked ads, even similar between rivals, soporific at times, which could have been produced a year ago without anyone noticing.
Macri’s bid was strengthened by the so-called divide, but at the same time, the acceptance of that strict division led the PRO to a strategic mistake. The Buenos Aires City mayor was able to muster votes from pure and stiff opposition, which is willing to pick anybody so long as the Kirchnerite cycle comes to an end. Perhaps encouraged by the micro-climate in the so-called “red circle”, Macri dismissed several times in the last few years any possibility that CFK’s government would avoid chaos and end up in absolute discredit. At the end of 12 years of Kirchnerism, the Argentine economy has problems but it is far from collapse, there is certain satisfaction from some of the rights that have been acquired and the presidential approval rating is among the highest in South America. When the candidate for PRO-Let’s Change took note of these circumstances, he tried to change tack but it was barely coherent. As such, one day Macri approves the idea that Kirchnerism carries with it an insurmountable burden and the next day promises to continue policies central to the government despite his opposition at the time when they were announced.
Massa took the opposite path. A public official in the Kirchnerite administrations, in 2013 became a dissident who sought to “continue the good and change the bad” and ended up with one of the harshest positions in the opposition on certain issues. He tells those in government: “I am going to put you in jail!”
“We took the centre and Massa grabbed the right” one of the PRO’s strategists bemoans these days, considering that he sees the rival Renewal Front still in with a chance. The former Tigre mayor puts out proposals that ended up in tragedy in the past both in Argentina and in Latin American countries such as the involvement of the military to combat drug-trafficking in poor neighbourhoods. Beyond some strident proclamations in favour of being tough on crime and against “slackers in La Cámpora,” precision is not Massa’s strong suit either.
In the case of Scioli, the lack of rhetorical clarity is a mark of an identity that has been accepted by his own and rivals, an element that the candidate has transformed from a weakness into a strength. With a lack of words that bring about clarity, it is possible to plot out the path that an eventual Scioli administration would follow by reading his Cabinet announcements in the last two weeks. The proposed ministers are a group of men and a woman from his inner circle and are relatively low profile, there are some Peronist strongmen from the provinces and agents of the law and order approach. The governor of the province of Buenos Aires did not have a structure of his own to call “Sciolism,” and as such he appealed to a conglomerate that is rather more a representation of “classic” Peronism.
Within Scioli’s team there is no trace of the nucleus that pays homage to the figure of CFK, of the most ideological Cristinism nor any centre-left leaders. Meanwhile, the governor of Salta, Juan Manuel Urtubey, who will “have an important role in the government” according to Scioli associates, has not wasted an opportunity this month to defy the current government’s central issues. It may be a preview of the battle that is to come, or a strategy to win the elusive two points that are necessary for Scioli to guarantee a victory without heading to a runoff. A week from the elections, the tensions have yet to bubble over.
@sebalacunza