Big political comeback

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Dear Editor,

"And Delilah said unto Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth?" Judges 16:6. So tell us, Portia, wherein thy strength lieth? In one stroke of the brush you have left stunned quite a few analysts, trampled on the credibility of some pollsters, torn to shreds the commentaries of some noteworthy newspaper columnists, and gave Mr Hyde a hiding, to boot. Love her or hate her, this is one, extraordinary woman.

This is the same Portia who pundits had said should step aside if the PNP harboured any chance of winning the elections; who was seen as a liability to the party; whose competence to lead the PNP was questioned by her detractors and even some supporters. Given her age, lesser mortals would have given up a long time ago. It turns out that the "youth card" seemed to have been a "bad card", as many of the winners on the JLP side are well over age 60.

Portia believed in herself and continued to be strong both mentally and physically, seemingly oblivious to the attacks. I overheard one overseas Jamaican saying the election results looked like a "vex vote".

Political rancour is a feature of electioneering. In the 2008 USA presidential campaign, one candidate referred to George W Bush as "brain dead". Radio host Bill Bennett, speaking at the 2010 Values Voters' Summit, remarked: "If you voted for Obama last time to prove you are not racist, you must vote against him this time to prove you are not an idiot." In the case of Simpson Miller, however, it seems to me that the attacks bordered on scorn, disdain, disrespect, ridicule and in some cases open hatred. Her story has got to be one of the biggest political comebacks from an even greater setback.

B L Daubon

b_daubon@hotmail.com