Barrow is Bogus

by glenntillett@yahoo.com

Fanaticism consists of redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.  – George Santayana

I’m sure it was my imagination, or perhaps it is just a case of me reading a lot from too little, but the news snippets I saw and heard of Dean Barrow’s speech at the UDP’s just passed National Convention exercise seem forced and awkward, hollow words and disjointed construction, and hardly represented the skilled orator with the melodramatic flair that we have come to know.

When did Dean Barrow morph from Obama into McCain was my first thought.

The convention itself is an important exercise for our mass political parties, but we often read too much into them, even if paradoxically we don’t learn enough from them. It is a significant part of the way we carry on our Westminster Parliamentary democracy, and it is that rare occasion when the party’s disparate parts and people meet in one place and can rub elbows.

It is also supposed to be a showcase of the party’s size and might, and the resulting synergies unleashed by north, south, east and west meeting centrally to declare collectively common purpose is the catalyst for momentum that fuels campaigns.

It is also contradictorily often equal parts tour d force and tour d farce.

The force should’ve been ten thousand strong – the farce is Jules Vasquez trying not to say that this was not the case.

The force should’ve been a ratification of the UDP’s accomplishments- the farce was Barrow claiming he is still the magician.

My Morning Buzz co-host Vaughan Gill is convinced that the UDP’s convention was really the launching of their re-election campaign, and that it signals that the general elections will be far sooner than later. I won’t get into his reasoning and rationalizing here, (you can check us out 7:15 – 9:30 mornings on Vibes Radio 90.5 & 102.9 FM or via BelizeWeb http://www.belizeweb.com/vibes.html), but I know he is not alone among the people who professionally or just habitually speculate on all matters political.

I know that just about halfway through his term Dean looked as though he wished he could give it up.
Another person speculated that right now Dean is beginning to hurt financially, and that the strain of almost single-handedly propping up a failing government is beginning to show. The person said that Dean hurriedly flew to Miami to visit with his law partner and friend because Rodwell had regained consciousness and what he had to tell Dean left him more than a bit discombobulated.

The absence of both senior partners from their joint enterprise is showing up in the firm’s bottom line, goes his speculation, and Dean is not happy.

I would like to think that Dean is a human being who has a conscience, and he is finding it harder and harder to repeat the lines that got him elected, and which he now knows are lies.

He knows that this is the most inept and corrupt administration in the history of Belize, and he must feel more than a bit uneasy when he contemplates the future. Dean must know that they are the opposite of “champions of the poor and the middle class” – that they are instead the biggest enemies of Belize’s poor and middle class.

The temptation to call for early elections is already strong, and will grow even more as Belize’s economy continues to stagger. To take the measures the IMF and the other multi-lateral international financial institutions will recommend, Dean will need to go back to the people for a mandate.

It is not as though he delivered on his promises in the first place, but things have become a lot dicier, and he won’t be able to gamble on the patience and tolerance of the masses or the credibility of his adoring media accomplices.

Dean Barrow’s administration is in trouble. Dean is bogus.

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