Twilight in the Balisier...

As of July 24th of this year, the political scene has shifted away from the established order and 'settled' with an electorate long clamoring for change with an abundance of change that could not have been predicted by the most savvy political observer a mere ten months ago.

With upheavals on a massive scale across all Parties, what obtains now is such a different version of the prior construct (albeit with most of the same moving parts) and a very different dynamic, one in which the people have a say beyond election day, which, in itself is the biggest change of all.

It would appear the non aligned voter came away the biggest winner in this experiment and, having been unshackled from voting race and tribe, was free to vote in support of or against anything he or she damn well pleased and they exercised this new freedom with much sophistication and aplomb.

Ironically the first casualty of this emancipation was the home of at least two 'Fathers' of the nation.

Why?

Because, and to quote Dr. Keith Rowley on the hustings, there are none so blind as they who will not see.

The winds of change blew so hard and so fast that those who were unwilling to move with change were literally blown away.

The legacy of Patrick Manning seems to be the very destruction of the People's National Movement, and so vexing were the abuses that occurred on his watch the electorate rejected the Party, not with spite, but with apathy.

In discussions with many ardent PNM supporters it became clear that the Party had still not come to terms with the unprecedented loss at the polls on May 24th, and were either unwilling or unable to face reality.

Still clinging to the notion that it was all the result of something external, sure that the people were being hoodwinked, that the 'show' that is the People's Partnership would eventually self destruct and the people would once more have nowhere else to turn, the Party was prepared to tick over and bide its time, settling for the politics of default.

Is it that they really can't see, or is it that they do not want to believe that the abuses that occurred under Patrick Manning were so vexing to the public, the electorate rejected them completely, twice?

If the General Election was not enough, the results of the Local Government Election SURELY would have hammered the point home, that even die hard PNM supporters had had enough and they too wanted real change.

When the UNC spawned the COP (which was born out of the ideals of the NAR), integrity was revived and brought back to the table.
The positive showing of the COP in its first election defended itself properly against the 'no seat no glory' cries and established the Party as 'if not yet King, then at least King Maker.

Had Rowley, Hinds and Valley the belly that Dookeran and others had four years ago, real change would have already come to the PNM by now, and the members of the Party would have had somewhere to turn to.

As it is, the only thing keeping the PNM alive is that their core members have nowhere else to go.

Listening to Dr. Rowley on the campaign trail shouting and lecturing the listeners, one was tempted to forget that an election is the ultimate popularity contest, and, like a beauty contest, requires you to put your best face forward, not behave loud and vex and demanding.

The PNM, under new leadership, was turning people off by sticking to, and defending issues that turned them away in the first place.

Instead of humility and grace, it was attack and deflect and the people, tired of trying to rationalize what they knew in their hearts to be wrong, simply walked away.

Hasn't he learned by now that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?

Give 'the powers that be' behind the People's Partnership their jacket, if the people wanted bread it was bread, if they wanted cheese it was cheese, because happy people come out and vote.

Not Dr. Keith Rowley.

No Sir! He decided that he going to remind everybody what wrong with bread and what wrong with cheese, and 'who vex could vex' and, in winning (in his mind) the talk part of the battle, went on to lose the 'vote' part of the war that is the popularity contest called elections.

Look, there is no sidestepping this. Real Leadership is about two things; knowing what the people want, knowing what is best for them, and trying to reconcile and balance out the two, so not only do you win the elections, but five years down the road the job would not be as hard to repeat.

I told them all of this.

I said admit Manning was a madman over that whole Church fiasco, and to distance yourself completely from him and his madness.

I said to bring up UDECOTT, the Flag, the Stadium in Tarouba and distance yourself from all of it.

What did he do instead?

He tried to defend the PNM's record.

He went on to educate people long tuned out about the benefits of a Smelter that, even if it was the best thing to happen to us since oil, the people didn't want it because it was a 'Manning Project' and, like the Racket Rail, believed to be pregnant with much corruption built right in to the whole damned thing.

In this game called popularity, perception is a hell of a thing.

Now the people are left with one hybrid Party and the remnants of a once great Party like a drunk old man in a bar screaming at whoever would listen that 'he used to be a contender.'

Can the PNM survive politically? I honestly don't know.

It may already be too late.