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Wednesday, April 11, 2001
| POSTVIEW | EDITORIAL |
Spidla has tough act to follow Poor Vladimir Spidla. The job, it has been said, makes the man. But can it make this man? Spidla is the new head of the Social Democrats, a party that has pinned its uneven fortunes on the often awkward, always outspoken charisma of Milos Zeman. His remarkable combination of exaggerated wit, convoluted nationalism and conscious political incorrectness made the CSSD less of a socialist party -- in the vein, say, of Blair's and Jospin's -- than a kind of political suburb of Zemanville. And it was not a bad place to be for a marginally leftist party wedged among rightist competitors. Former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus didn't so much sign the "opposition agreement" with the CSSD as with Zeman. It was a pact between ego-mongering big boys who had little professed love for President Vaclav Havel. Together, they hurled stones at the Castle, although few hit home. They also presided -- however dubiously -- over an economic recovery that, despite the shakiness of many state enterprises, has placed Prague within centimeters of the European Union. Much of this was accomplished because Zeman and Klaus, over three years, were able to milk consensus from disunity. Zeman's posturing was useful to the CSSD. It provided fascinating entertainment, a sideshow of sorts, and largely dismantled any critical focus on the party itself -- in times of trouble, it was Zeman, not the CSSD, who took the risks, and the heat. When you believe (or claim to believe) that everyone except you is an idiot, the high ground is an easy place to find and to stake out. In this regard, the ever-passionate Zeman was a genius. And so cometh Spidla. Political scientist Bohumil Dolezal has called him a "political bureaucrat," which, in a sprawling landscape of bureaucrats, is hardly a recommendation. The danger for Spidla, in Zeman's absence, is that both public and political focus will finally fall on the CSSD's policies, and on its shortcomings. In a time of incipient prosperity, with EU membership imminent, Spidla heads a party that has welfare-state tendencies. It dislikes multinationals, would indulge tax hikes and seeks more money for state coffers that many citizens believe are already chock-full of corrupt cash. On the plus side, Spidla is not Zeman, opening the door for conservatives other than Klaus to flirt with him. In theory, the CSSD is single again; it can date and dabble and sleep around. But, Spidla must first pretty up his party, and himself, hoping he can do so in time to make a pitch to next year's electorate. If he dawdles, or appears occasionally lost, the CSSD may find itself in deep trouble. It's worth remembering that Zeman was not just a passing flavor; he took a party of modest standing and muscled it to center stage. In American parlance, he won "ugly," but he won. Spidla is charged with conserving that victory. Success, for him, will be a 2002 showing that maintains the CSSD at its accustomed near-20 percent levels. Failure, which is not out of the question, could reduce the Social Democrats to minor partner status in a center-right government led by the surging, if conflicted, Quad Coalition. The timer has begun ticking down on Mr. Spidla. Whether it is measuring the minutes before a hearty meal or winding down on a detonator is something Zeman would have known, but that Spidla can only guess at -- for now. The korbac's tyranny By Andrea Chalupa A flawed way of thinking By Arie Farnam The Hague: An early premonition E-MALE |
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