We live in a world of constant change and political parties that sell their wares have to do so in this fast changing environment. Yet, for reasons best known to the PN leadership, the constant underlying propaganda theme, and the ubiquitous message of the PN media, ever since l987, never changed. True to its ‘status quo’ mentality, the Nationalist Party’s main rallying cry has been that “Alfred Sant is not to be trusted” and that “Alfred Sant never learns”.
There have been two occasions since l987 when the electorate rejected both the subliminal content and the stark punch of this message, and voted overwhelmingly for the Labour Party led by Alfred Sant – in l996 and at the Euro-parliamentary elections last March.
That the spin doctors in charge of the Nationalist Party electoral machine erred is beside the point I would like to make. The point to be considered – and the point central to my argument – is whether or not this negative approach is a reflection of incorrigible arrogance and whether or not the spin doctors have missed (and are still missing) a singular opportunity to project the image of a revamped leadership team.
The answer makes a difference – if the PN under Dr Gonzi is bent on producing more of the same, its future is bleak indeed.
After the recent Euro-parliamentary election, some, but not all, PN spokesmen who were chastised by the electorate have owned up that they were cut off from the grass roots. They had not been listening enough. There was no effective two-way communication to help them keep both feet on the ground.
This being the case, it is a matter for some surprise that the lesson of l996 did not sink in. The PN team and its spin doctors seem to think that they can swing the mass vote by demonising the adversary, rather than by urging the masses to believe in their party’s ability to satisfy their highest aspirations.
Communications tend to be judged not on the test of their objective truth but on the test of their impact. The impact registered in l996 and, once again, last March, was eloquent enough and should press home the basic lesson that the use of communications as a weapon is not a job for amateurs in a hurry.
There was a time when communications could be manipulated with relative impunity, the more so if the manipulator controlled the media. Today, the electorate is far more emancipated. Pluralism makes it possible for truth to combat error. The spread of education, the increase in average earnings and the availability of leisure time militate towards a new generation of voters, more disposed to learn, to think independently, and to subordinate the considerations of the tribe (the collectivity) to those of the individual.
There is no way to persuade this generation to vote simply for the pleasure of bashing a politician (in this case Alfred Sant), when it is in high dudgeon because of the incompetence and high-handedness of the government.
While communications try to elicit a response to the image (and, what counts more, is what is projected), the object of the exercise is not so much what is projected as what the audience receives.
The received impression is what finally matters. For better or for worse, the received impression is that the Nationalist Party has not succeeded in riding the wave of change.
The high hopes generated by the change of leadership seem to be fast running out of steam – because, rather than concentrating, with the necessary single-mindedness, on injecting new blood and getting rid of the dead wood, it has continued to swivel to catch Alfred Sant by the tail. Rather than pursuing a programme with clear tangible objectives, the party has turned on its guns on Alfred Sant. Ad hominem politics invariably miss the wood for the trees
A party which claims a time-honoured tradition and a distinguished history is surely capable of appealing for support with a constructive and positive programme, if well led, and if it is well-tuned to the tenor of the times. It is evident that the PN has lost its focus.
In the view of many, this is because its public relations minions know no better and have proved to be flashy lightweights with ideas above their station. The recent faux pas in connection with the local elections at Marsa and Zejtun tells it all.
Dr Gonzi, unwittingly or otherwise, failed to impose his personality on the traditionalists in control of the party machine when he assumed the leadership.
This is why the PN is quagmired, why ministries are paralysed and why the government is impotent.
Progressive elements within the Nationalist Party feel isolated and unable to make their presence felt. When the public mood is becoming more and more restive, they consider that a public initiative on their part would be equivalent to decapitating the PN.
In this scenario, the electorate has the whip hand.
Gonzi needs to be careful, rather than daring.
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