The clown prince rides again
Since his return to the cabinet circus ring in July, the jolly professor has kept journalists thoroughly amused. He has responded to only one request for an interview, eschewed press conferences, stormed out without answering questions and used the state media as a pliable and unquestioning mouthpiece for his propaganda.
By comparison, his slapstick set pieces requiring such props as scissors, giant bread loaves and tables strewn with carrots, to explain the chemistry of the Polish economy, provoked only hollow laughs. I'd like to see Kołodko try more ambitious tricks. When will we see a return to the desperate, erratic juggling for which he was famed during his first run as finance minister? And who wouldn't like to see him as the fearless human cannonball - rocketing clean out of government, for example?
But lo and behold, the WBJ recently caught Kołodko in a magnanimous mood when we asked the colorful master of ceremonies to host a morning business conference. Expecting the flat refusal that he extended to the American Chamber of Commerce, it was surprising that Kołodko actually showed some interest in meeting the business community. There was only one catch - I had to present him with 100 solid arguments as to why he should bless our gathering with his presence.
As I got started, I thought it would be smooth sailing through the list including the following helpful enticements:
" It will be an opportunity to dispense your leftover carrots.
" Some businessmen believe that because they haven't seen you, you don't actually exist.
" We will bring in people from the street to laugh at your jokes but of course not your policies.
" We can just eat vegetarian bigos and discuss our favorite records.
" People's economic judgment is fundamentally unsound first thing in the morning.
" You will have a funny anecdote about how you made us come up with these 100 arguments.
" You can address the rumors that former Finance Minister Marek Belka resigned, and you're his successor.
" I've sat doing this all day while I should have been filing stories.
But after 51 reasons, I ran dry. Perhaps the desire to laugh at the joker wasn't strong enough - Kołodko doesn't seem to care about what response he manages to provoke with his lampoonery. Perhaps I felt just overwhelmed by the whimsy of it all. Or maybe I am looking forward to the day when we have tears at press conference time and a pitious wail that the media doesn't understand him. Never forget, behind the greasepaint, clowns are always tragic figures.
