In what has turned into to a very fierce campaign to choose the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama recently replied to Hillary Clinton’s latest accusations by saying, “This is what passes for leadership in Washington – phoney ideas calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems.”

For a second there I thought he had caught a last minute flight to Malta and was referring to the local situation.

Obama’s remark puts it very succinctly. The prize of winning elections is what counts, and to hell with what is good for the country. More and more, the PN has revealed itself to be this kind of cynical political party – a party that shifts into full, highly tuned gear, pulling out all the stops to win election after election, but once in government it just sits there, like a lump of lard, and fails to deliver. I wish it would apply the same kind of precise, professional initiative to running the country as it does to winning elections.

Oh sure, they like to tell us we’ve never had it so good, but (to use just one example) as you are driving the car you’ve paid way too much for along our Third World roads, doesn’t it ever occur to you that, for the amount of taxes you pay, you deserve to have decent infrastructure?

You know, the kind of roads that don’t collapse with the first rainfall, that kind of thing.

Thank you, Jesus

But, come to think of it, it’s pretty understandable that the government feels it can just coast along.

Don’t be too surprised if you see a line of PN officials shuffling on their knees in a pilgrimage to Ta’ Pinu Church in gratitude for all the blessings coming their way.

Just when things start heating up for the CEO at Gonzi Corporation Ltd, a little present all tied up in a pretty red bow plops into his lap.

I’m talking about, of course, the Labour Party defeat report. Can you blame the Nationalist Party for collectively looking skywards and whispering a fervent thank you to the Lord for this latest gift?

What’s this I hear?

But hark! What’s this?

“For all intents and purposes, the PN should treat the last election as a defeat,” Simon Busuttil was reported as saying recently to explain why he had turned down the post of general secretary.

I had to rub my eyes and re-focus to make sure I had read that properly. It was, I think, the first time someone had actually voiced what we have all been saying since March.

There’s more.

Apart from the wobbly English, Pierre Portelli’s recent article in The Times was also very revealing:

“The Nationalist Party has done a lot of good. In doing so, it also lacked attention to many people who felt sidelined or ignored. Be they right or wrong, these people had no one to turn to, a political icon with whom to share their troubles. Many of these people where (sic) massaged and pampered at the last hour, some even by the Prime Minister himself. A lot of them where (sic) comforted by a last-minute gesture and turned out to cast their vote; others were not impressed and remained home. Most of these people are now wasting phone-cards trying to reach those who chased them before March 8.

“Eventually they’ll get through the maze of the newly-composed government but it will take them a while. Some will just wait around for the next electoral calling and if by then no one would have returned their call they’ll just do what they intended to do before the Prime Minister knocked at their door not long before the Ides of March.”

He goes on to compare Joe Saliba to Moses: “Very soon the new administration of the party will move to the newly-built headquarters. Like Moses, who did not make it to the Promised Land, Joe Saliba will not dwell into (sic) the new block he conceived and built.”

And finally, he levels a parting shot at crybaby politicians: “Former ministers and parliamentary secretaries should also get busy again in their party. Crying over the fact that they were not re-elected or re-appointed will not serve the cause they entered politics for in the first place.”

Could these be the first signs that there might be cracks in the carefully painted façade of the newly built headquarters where Joe Saliba does not “dwell”?

Saying what you mean

Among the deluge of comments I see posted on blogs here and there, one has remained stuck in my memory: “I never want my children to know what it feels like to be under a Labour government.”

Once you get over the chilling implications of what this person is saying, it suddenly hits you that, at last, someone is saying exactly what they mean.

For all its fascist undertones, it’s more realistic to read this kind of heartfelt statement, written in all truthfulness, than all this hogwash about how Nationalist supporters would feel “comfortable” with George Abela as Labour leader because they want “a strong opposition” and therefore they “wouldn’t mind” if Labour won.

No vision Eurovision

Another year, another mound of cash goes trickling merrily down the drain.

I heard Robert Abela saying that he did what he could with the budget he had (hint, hint) but I hope that the new Minister of Culture will not even contemplate throwing any more money at this festival.

I thought I was hearing things when he said that Malta Song requires a PR office with five or six people manning it, “if we want results”. Are you kidding me?

He said it was too time consuming to update the blog and website, and this when there are 11 people on the committee. Can someone explain what all these people actually do?

Meanwhile, I can think of at least one expense that would have been justified. How about a diction coach so that in the three months she had between winning the Song for Europe and going to the Eurovision, Morena might have learned to enunciate her words. Instead, all people can remember is “Vodka ta da ta da ta daaaa... Vodka ta ta ta daaa”.

As for someone saying that there was “apathy towards the Maltese song...” will someone get a grip and admit that the problem, heck, maybe, I don’t know... was the song? There seems to be an attitude problem in this country: is it too difficult to accept that maybe the product is wrong, rather than people are wrong for not liking your product?

Frankly, Morena did the best she could with the song she had. I’m glad she seemed to have had such a blast, but it gets kind of annoying to hear her saying it so often – after all she was representing Malta, and uhm, we kind of paid for it, you know?

And finally, let’s please stop all this whining.

The way I see it we have three choices. Pull out completely; send an incredibly good song, or else send a song that takes the mickey out of the whole thing (which would mean the Maltese would need to swallow a hefty dose of irony).

What we don’t need is another earnest number that is plastic and kitsch, and which we expect everyone to simply love.

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