If America stands a chance of having a 46-year-old President come next November, the majority of the Maltese have come to realise that there is no reason why the age factor should prevent Malta from having a 39-40-year-old prime minister in five years’ time.
The Muscat-Obama parallel becomes even more distinctive when realising that both in the American primaries and in the MLP’s extraordinary general conferences, delegates have shown that they wanted a candidate of change and that the claim of having an “inexperienced” man at the top could be dangerous to have him as commander in chief at this time is hollow indeed.
Both new leaders have shown that they embody the America and Malta of today and tomorrow.
They both showed that their respective delegates wanted to invest in candidates that truly reflected the spirit of the times.
With Joseph Muscat, Labour will strengthen its European credentials which always remained somewhat creaky right up to the recent electoral manifesto, and he also stands a good chance of winning over a sizeable chunk of first-time voters who would have previously considered it anathema to even consider ever voting Labour.
As an agent of change, he must act as of now not only to assign visible tasks to all the other four candidates who repeatedly committed themselves during the campaign to work to the best of their ability alongside the new leader if they happened to lose.
But just as importantly, to ensure that an extraordinary general conference is held at the earliest possible so that the delegates will be given the chance to vote for the administration that the new leader and two deputy leaders who should be elected by this Friday deserve in order to be able to implement the reform and restructuring programme that we are all yearning for.
The task might sound gargantuan but so long as there is good will, which I do not doubt, it will be achievable.
One cannot blame certain delegates for failing to live up to the occasion if all those who they voted for will now not lead and act by example. But the signals last Sunday were positive ones since I noticed many Abela, Falzon, Bartolo and Coleiro-Preca delegates and activists cheering in the crowd. It was a commendable idea of Joseph Muscat to invite all those former ministers and MPs who might have felt excluded by design or by default from “the glass house” over past years. I am sure that a new administration will speed up the healing process even further.
H. Clinton and B. Obama might have had an acrimonious campaign but after dragging her feet a bit unduly, she has now promised publicly to strongly support Obama’s White House bid and even to rally supporters around him. Her most quotable quote ran as follows: “I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.”
I am confident that the four worthy contenders for the MLP leadership race will follow suit – as a sign of political maturity and consistency with their pre-electoral public pledges.
I have kept their manifestos and public statements on purpose to be able to judge them all by their actions.
And by they I do not only mean the four who did not win, but even the commitments of Joseph Muscat himself who promised an earthquake in party structures, a new way of thinking as to how to play the political game in Malta as well as a vision statement that if fulfilled, will turn the Labour Party into a truly modern and effective party that will succeed in taking on board the progressive and moderate elements in society, even those who might not be that ideologically committed to leftist causes.
All this should nevertheless be done in full respect of the contemporary social democratic values that the Labour Party upholds as part of the European Socialist movement where Joseph Muscat has learnt the ropes and proved himself with great success during these past four years.
If Joseph Muscat managed to win the majority of delegates regardless of their age and social profile, I have every right to expect that in the coming years, he will prove to be Malta’s Obama by being able to mobilise younger voters too, an area which the Labour Party almost criminally totally ignored in the same way that it abandoned the IT and internet component with a negligence that defies belief.
There is no room for complacency in Joseph Muscat’s road map ahead. He must avoid at all costs the over-confidence that cost us a general election victory while Lawrence Gonzi was busy chasing every single vote. Suffice to say that although I was available all day on election day going from one polling station to another, I did not get a single phone call from the party to chase a single dissident voter, contrary to what used to be the case during previous elections that we might have won or lost.
No matter how flawed the electoral analysis report might be, we must start working hard on implementing those recommendations that make sense, that are feasible and that are most urgently needed.
Joseph at the helm together with the judicious choice for deputy leaders that I hope delegates will make next Thursday must represent an agenda for change. A change we can all believe in.
The US primaries have shown that it was not enough for Clinton to focus almost exclusively on her competence and readiness to serve as commander in chief, as well as on the fact that she built her entire campaign around the idea that in a time of historical challenges, both domestically and abroad, voters wanted a steady hand on the wheel.
It is good to have a calming presence seeking to reassure voters that she was ready and willing to steer the ship of state, but people wanted more.
They wanted hope in the future, no stop-gap solutions, a long-term investment as well as someone inspirational with a clear-cut vision.
It would be a good idea were Joseph and his new deputies to also take a hard look at the vision statements of the other candidates and see what elements can be incorporated within his own personal vision as a sign of inclusiveness as well as to send a clear signal that no good ideas will be discarded wherever they may come from.
Joseph must work hard at being a good listener and prove to be a healer.
He must ignore any attempts that might be made by the media to try and resort to the battle strategies that are already emerging in the USA from the McCain camp in which they are trying to portray Barack Obama as a political neophyte, inexperienced in world and domestic affairs and lacking any track record of bridging divides.
Our new leadership must work hard at translating our hopes and aspirations into a reality.
As Obama did they must show convincingly that they are better candidates for having had the honour to compete with the contestants that they were up against.
But most important of all, apart from offering a new direction to a Labour Party that has no option other than to reinvent itself, they must pick on what Obama said.
That the journey might be difficult and that the road will be long. But that they must face the challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of their limitations and not only of their strengths.
This will make three better leaders out of them all.
Any triumphalism at this stage or even later in the game can only prove to be harmful and counter productive!
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Leo Brincat is the Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and IT