The presidential dispute takes place in a true tropical Sahara.
In an interview with Pedro Doria, from Canal Meio, asked which politician served as his inspiration, former governor Ratinho Jr, then a pre-candidate for the Presidency, cited none other than Dom Pedro 2º (!).
a candidate for Palácio do Planalto for , although his political career dates back to the 1980s, with passages in both Houses of Congress, he can only talk about Goiás, which he governed for two terms.
The Minas Gerais native, perhaps because he doesn’t really get along with the language, has so far been unable to articulate any proposal that justifies his presidential ambition.
Nor is it possible to find any clue as to what Flávio Bolsonaro, today the president’s main opponent in the right-wing camp, intends. Until recently, all that was known about him was that, if elected, he would free his father from jail and align himself unconditionally with Donald Trump’s USA. Now we have been informed of your positive opinion about Bolsa Família, which you consider an “acquired right” that you promise to respect and expand — more or less the equivalent of proclaiming yourself a courageous defender of the minimum wage: not exactly an innovative promise, to say… the least.
The pre-candidate for reelection seems to be content with showing off what has already been done in the current term — including the most recent initiatives packaged as an electoral package — as well as in the more distant past. It also bets on the fear of the threat to democracy and civilized coexistence that Bolsonaro’s candidacy inevitably entails.
However, he lacks a vision of the future; the desired direction for the country; of the available trump cards; and the obstacles to overcome. There is a lack of proposals on how to deal with the delicate fiscal situation; how to advance security; how to deal with SUS and Social Security bottlenecks; how to overcome mediocre results in education; how to adapt social protection and CLT standards to the new job market; what energy choices to make; what direction to take for the Amazon and how to prepare for climate catastrophes; how to increase connectivity in the country and how to incorporate new technologies based on artificial intelligence to increase the efficiency of public administration.
For the voter with intense preferences, being passionately in favor of one candidate or viscerally against another is enough to define the vote. Research indicates that, together, Lulistas and die-hard Bolsonaristas account for 2/3 of voters. The remaining third needs to be conquered mainly by emotion, or, to a lesser extent, by reason.
Yes, elections are fought with slogans and concise messages; with strong images, not with policy papers. But they also provide opportunities for, in parallel to the fight for votes on platforms, social networks, radio and TV, intellectuals and think tanks linked to parties or candidates to provide them with new ideas.
That this happens is not inevitable, nor is it indispensable to guarantee victory for this or that person. But the programmatic discussion makes a difference to the quality of governments and the production of convergences without which we will not go anywhere.
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