For years, I could not understand the meaning, let alone the implications of the Jamaican adage “Time longer than rope”, but as time passed the meaning became too obvious for me not to grasp. Time is indeed longer than rope; and there is no better confirmation than what time does to the ego of a cocky monkey when it realises that the higher it climbs the more it exposes its naked derrière. Metaphorically speaking, though, the cocky monkey reminds me of Jamaican politics and some politicians.

The only difference between the boastful monkey and the errant politician is that as “monkey see, monkey do”. However, the politician will most likely not climb out of the pit of hypocrisy, not even when it becomes abundantly clear that the rope is no match for the endlessness of time. Predictably, therefore, if one gives the politician enough rope and time, he will delightfully entangle and effortlessly hang himself. And if there were any doubts about this, recent political developments in Jamaica should remove all of them.

Yet sometimes, in order to maintain one’s sanity, one has to “tek bad tings mek laugh”. And many are now keeling over with laughter at those who allowed themselves to be politically chloroformed by Bruce’s sweet talk, even though they are quick to declare their allegiance to substance over fluff, but were the same ones who bought hook, line and sinker of Golding’s puny-puny reasons for resigning. Now that he has revealed the rationale for stepping aside, they are attempting to mask their embarrassment by seeking wisdom where only foolishness resides.

Hopefully, the potency of the chloroformic potion they so readily consumed will wear off and they will regain political consciousness soon, having now received the professionally administered antidote that fell from the “horse’s mouth” like melted lard at last Sunday’s JLP confab. At last, and in an incredible twist of fate, Bruce Golding, the politician tactician, could not help colting his own game. He mounted the rostrum at the JLP’s 68th Annual Conference and told the country that his resignation was part of a bigger political game, and so it was indeed.

And, as the time marched on and the rope became shorter and shorter the words fell from the “horse’s mouth” as nothing we have witnessed before, and those who had rushed to crown him “Emperor Eloquent” must have been terribly miffed by his mysterious admission. I cannot imagine how one reader with known ties to the JLP must have felt. He had written to me thus: “Shame on you, Chris Burns, for arriving at such a lonely conclusion about Mr Golding’s resignation.” But as I told the writer, and here now repeat, “I arrived at my conclusion that Golding’s resignation was less about patriotism and more about political expediency, because, unlike you, I am no political dunce. I understand politics too darn well not to detect political farce when I see it.”

For, according to Golding, his action “set up the play for top striker Andrew Holness to score the winning goal… and what a difference that play has made on the political landscape over the past two months…” Golding was so effusive in self-adulation that he unwittingly ignored the insult that echoed back at him from the receptive audience as it assisted him in completing the famously crafted dismissal order by emphasising “… and gooo!” And while we must move on, we should never forget the ugly antecedents that precipitated his resignation, nor must we underestimate the indecent haste of convenience that ushered in Mr Holness, lest we dash our feet against another stone.

Time is longer than rope; but the game is still in play and someone may have to play ball soon, because the captain may end up tearing himself and his team apart with contradictions. It was a remarkable merger of convenience, when Mr “Young and Different” replaced Mr “New and Different”. However, the former cannot divorce himself from the latter and the relationship is bound to cause political toxicity. In all of this, as “new brand”, is becoming “old brand” and as the oxymoronically coined “new old driver” is fast becoming “old new driver”, it is obvious that people are beginning to see an indistinguishable resemblance between the new and the old.

And Mr Holness wasted no time, during his maiden pitch to the JLP conference, as party leader, to remind Jamaicans that “bud nuh walk and dem pickney fly”. For it was either that he instantly developed a blatant disregard for accuracy, or his oral account of history was so terrible that he could not help being distortive. Take, for instance, his regurgitation of a 14-year-old statement made by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson to recognise the Reggae Boys’ historic qualification to participate in the FIFA World Cup. Advertently or not, he chose to repeat a portion of Mr Patterson’s “the law is not a shackle” remarks and left it wide open for people to form the impression that the quotation he recited was Mr Patterson’s full remarks. Oh, how disingenuous.

Mr Holness, in deference to the former prime minister, could have said, “I want to paraphrase something PJ said,” but he did no such thing. Instead, he failed to distinguish himself as the “young and different” leader his supporters claim he is. And while “young” means different things to different people, “different” is another kettle of fish that should never be confused with “same”. One would have thought that the “young and different” strategy would mandate the messenger to make a positive directional shift away from the old and tiresome past and toward a new and wholesome pathway, but no.

The truth is, the former prime minister said, among other things: “The law is not a shackle to enslave; it is a tool for (of) social engineering”. This relatively short and memorable 15-word sentence, which most first-graders would have no difficulty committing to memory, should be just as easy for someone of the prime minister’s intellectual capacity to recite without effort. However, he lifted the first six words out of the sentence and repeated them, thereby distorting the meaning of what Mr Patterson actually said in Parliament. We can do better than to distort.

Burnscg@aol.com