|
|
|
|
 |
||
 |
 |
Wednesday, February 28, 2001
| POSTVIEW | EDITORIAL |
|
Slipping Zeman into Prague Castle Here's an adult entertainment concept: President Zeman. Imagine it. Out goes President Vaclav Havel, an intellectual maestro largely incapable of verbal brawls; in comes Milos Zeman, who sees dimwits and fools wherever he looks -- even in the mirror. It was the magazine Tyden which, perhaps flightily, suggested this month that Zeman's announced vanishing act -- he has said he will leave the Social Democrats (CSSD) in April -- is an elaborate ruse. He is, the magazine and others suggest, just a big rat fleeing his own leaky ship. With the CSSD headed for electoral trouble in 2002, why stick around and be labeled a loser? Why indeed. A quick look at the presidential landscape reveals it as barren. Vaclav Klaus is a sourpuss with little forward vision. Petr Pithart will soon exhaust his supply of Cuban cigars. Poll after poll suggests citizens are uncomfortable with what they do not know. Translation: Outsiders are likely to find a narrow presidential berth. So what about (the Meciaresque) Zeman? This: He is a Czech champion. He rallies around beer and stew with nearly jingoistic fervor. He celebrates his own (Whitmanesque) bluster. Regarding a recent EU matter (about rum, no less) cranky Uncle Milos quipped, "I asked, with my usual politeness, which idiot thought that up..." With Zeman, issues are often secondary. He is an arrogantly self-confident, self-indulgent, attractively narcissistic politician in a country otherwise populated by occasionally brilliant but often gray figures. In his own way he has come to define the CSSD -- and has worked to ensure that a successor, likely to be Vladimir Spidla, will not challenge his capacity to make headlines. Should he decide to aim for it, is Zeman the right man for Castle? Probably not. But who is? Who is the right man after Havel? Who can assume the post-Havel mantle when implicit in that succession is a literal goodbye to post-communism? Ideally, the new president might be a younger leader, closer in spirit, say, to a Tony Blair. Again, no such figure is available. What might make Zeman an interesting and controversial choice is precisely what members of his own CSSD are glad to be dispensing with: an incessantly loud, even boorish, media-bashing man whose passionate approach to governing makes him inevitably visible. This swagger gives him a charisma that, truth be told, is largely absent on the European scene (so much so that it invites pseudo-charismatics like Jorg Haider into the picture). As inimical to Havel's presidentialism as Zeman's tone might seem, the two men at the very least share deep affection for the country. Havel cannot be cowed because his moral authority humbles anyone who would stand before him. Zeman, while hardly a moral figure, stands larger than life on a flat table. It may not be much of a recommendation, but, for now, just enough.
By Susan Nerlinger Census fear has some real roots By Arie Farnam Once a rough business E-MALE |
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.