Nice guys finish last
In a televised address last Wednesday night, Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek laid out plans for the government's next two years in office. That, of course, is depending on whether the Solidarity Election Action (AWS)-Freedom Union (UW) coalition, or Buzek himself, can last that long. Even if they do, though, Buzek's framework was less than inspiring.
With his popularity ratings at pitiful levels, the PM tried to take a safe, yet strong, path. In his speech, he focused on security issues, trying to cast himself as a law-and-order type of guy. That's fine if people are cowering in their homes because crime is so rampant and it's the foremost issue on everyone's mind. Unfortunately for Buzek, other concerns are far larger. These are economic in nature and relate to specific initiatives such as health care and pension reform.
Buzek tried to address these as well, but here was hamstrung by a particularly nasty problem: much of the fear in regard to these areas has to do with the reforms that he ultimately is responsible for. Acknowledging that there had been some problems, he said much of the next two years would be spent correcting imperfections in the reforms. While that's a welcome course (and in fairness any reforms of such magnitude would have glitches and need tinkering with) it wasn't the stuff that declared there was a new, strong Jerzy Buzek in town.
No, it's the same old Jerzy. Even the image-improvement measures he's seemed to be taking trying to improve his speaking style and body language didn't bring about drastic change. The fact is that Buzek has been perceived as a weak and largely ineffective leader. Last week's performance did not change this. A status-quo policy is not one that will engender new-found confidence among the electorate. It could in fact have the opposite effect given the economic challenges that are now looming on the horizon.
Let it be said that Buzek is not incompetent, dishonest or any of the other usual nefarious attributes associated with politicians. He's just not a leader.
In the long run that's going to have nasty consequences at the polls for AWS. Even though the hardest part of its time in government the introduction of health care, pension, education and administrative reform is past, the perception of this government as inept and weak has solidified. That will lead to defeat at the polls or could result in an early election if the disorganization either brings about an unwise and untimed break with UW, or if the junior partner decides its partnership could ultimately become an electoral albatross.
There has been much talk that Buzek will shuffle the cabinet in a decisive way in coming weeks, but this too is unlikely to break the public perception of AWS's leadership skills. Only Buzek can do this. And if his performance continues to disappoint, the prime minister may find the only answer is to exit, stage right.
