This week we continue our discussion of the career of\u00a0 Branville McCartney, Member for Bamboo Town and leader of the Democratic National Alliance.<\/p>\n
McCartney\u2019s departure from Ingraham\u2019s Cabinet seemed impulsive to me, poorly thought out.\u00a0 His explanations weren\u2019t very convincing.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t convinced that he had a serious philosophical difficulty with the FNM (Free National Movement) and I wasn\u2019t clear what he meant when he said he wasn\u2019t being utilized fully.<\/p>\n
His promise to challenge for the leadership of the FNM was bold and refreshing, yes, but ultimately foolish, since you ought never to tell a man like Ingraham that you are coming for him.\u00a0 You just come for him.\u00a0 Even if he had the opportunity he wanted to challenge Ingraham at convention, I seriously doubt he would have met a fate that was any different from the one meted out to Paul Moss, someone with a better political mind in my opinion than McCartney.<\/p>\n
Since launching the DNA, McCartney\u2019s remarks have simply confirmed my impression that he is playing a game and if he wins, we may lose.\u00a0 What really is the difference, in terms of philosophy and vision, between the FNM and the DNA?\u00a0 The PLP and the DNA?\u00a0 Why does the DNA exist\u2014outside of the fact that Ingraham refuses to leave the FNM and let McCartney lead?<\/p>\n
And the DNA leader fails at convincing me that he truly understands the challenges and limits imposed on those who are governing this country\u2014or worse yet, he doesn\u2019t care about reality; he wants to sell us fantasies.\u00a0 Witness these remarks from his maiden speech as DNA leader: \u201cImagine sidewalk cafes, well-lit streets, rows of theaters especially designed for young Bahamian playwrights, and a downtown that is world renowned and envied by the rest of the world, with Bahamian art and craft galore! . . . Imagine a Bahamas where citizens are no longer prisoners in their homes; where burglar bars are not a necessity . . .\u00a0 Imagine a tertiary institution that attracts students from around the world and joins the top ranks of colleges and universities around the world. Imagine a Bahamian Harvard. Imagine these possibilities! . . . If we put people first, then perhaps we would no longer boast a national grade point average of a D that has made the outside world question our brilliance and our intelligence.\u00a0 If we put people first, perhaps it will move to an A that will once again make us the respected and competitive, intellectually brilliant nation that we were meant to be and that many expect us to be; not only regionally but globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DNA is here to create the same paradise for Bahamians that only tourists and foreigners seem to enjoy. The DNA is here to encourage you to dream beyond your wildest imagination; we are here to dare you to think the unthinkable, to do the impossible.\u201d <\/strong><\/em> -Branville McCartney\u2019s address at the launch of the Democratic National Alliance, May 12, 2011<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u2019ve said this before: the language, the tool of the \u201clotioner\u201d is hyperbole.\u00a0 PLP leader Perry Christie and McCartney specialize in exaggeration and overblown rhetoric.\u00a0 Ingraham, the bulldog, specializes in red herrings, the tactic of distraction.\u00a0 COB a Bahamian Harvard?\u00a0 Harvard has a $32 billion endowment.\u00a0 The Bahamas\u2019 budgeted expenditure this year is $1.9 billion.\u00a0 No more burglar bars in Nassau?\u00a0 Really? The DNA will deliver that?\u00a0 The city of Nassau will be envied by the world?\u00a0 A model city, sure, but envied?\u00a0 By the world?\u00a0 The Bahamas will have an A average in its schools?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Every student will have an A average?\u00a0 Christie couldn\u2019t have done a better job at painting pies in the sky.<\/p>\n
Then McCartney proposed that the country deny children born to illegals the right to apply for citizenship\u2014ever.\u00a0 This is a reckless and foolhardy proposition.\u00a0 Rather than ensure the nation\u2019s security it would undoubtedly endanger it.\u00a0 McCartney is gambling here: demagoguing really.\u00a0 Trying to capitalize on fear and paranoia.\u00a0 Dividing us instead of uniting us.\u00a0 All Bahamians of Haitian descent, Jamaican descent, all Bahamians whose parents or grandparents, out of desperation, came here illegally should note well and vote accordingly.\u00a0 I for one will not vote for a party that proposes something so destructive and inhumane.\u00a0 Yes, we must guard our borders, yes we must work toward a system of legal Haitian migration for purposes of employment, but I don\u2019t see how dooming children to statelessness creates a better Bahamas.<\/p>\n
McCartney then accused the FNM of being in the pocket of the Chinese and challenged them to reveal who financed them.\u00a0 He himself refused to reveal who was financing the DNA. How does that make sense?\u00a0 How is that a new political approach?\u00a0 If you are going to demand that people be transparent, shouldn\u2019t you first be transparent yourself?\u00a0 Otherwise you are just like all the rest \u2013 playing the game.<\/p>\n
And recently, he criticized Ingraham for not running in Bamboo Town and sending Cassius Stuart instead.\u00a0 Was he serious or was this a bad joke?\u00a0 Why on earth should Ingraham run in Bamboo Town?\u00a0 Will McCartney run in North Abaco?\u00a0 Does he imagine he will win in North Abaco?<\/p>\n
I am not convinced that McCartney is experienced enough, thoughtful enough, skilled enough to lead this country at this time.\u00a0 What I see is someone who too often is shallow, a \u201clotioner\u201d, someone posing as firm, determined, and possessing a vision.<\/p>\n
When I mention McCartney\u2019s weaknesses to DNA insiders they tell me it\u2019s a team effort.\u00a0 But McCartney wants to be prime minister, the most powerful office in the land and I just don\u2019t trust his judgment.\u00a0 I have some serious doubts about the competence of some of the people he has entrusted with major responsibilities in his party.<\/p>\n
And I think he moved too soon.\u00a0 And moving too soon tells me one of two things: either you really don\u2019t understand how politics works in this country or you have a monumentally over blown sense of your political capital.<\/p>\n
He has certain qualities that make him an excellent candidate–until he actually speaks. And when he speaks he either utters facile nothings or he reveals a willingness to say anything to gain an advantage.\u00a0 That makes him at best reckless and at worst desperate.<\/p>\n
But I may be wrong.\u00a0 I probably don\u2019t speak for the majority of Bahamians.\u00a0 We know what an empty talking PM looks like.\u00a0 We also know what headstrong leadership without vision looks like.\u00a0 We want better.\u00a0 I know there is a yearning for change in Bahamians of all generations.\u00a0 We want and need inspiring leadership.\u00a0 Strong, innovative, competent leadership.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t think McCartney and the DNA are what we want them so desperately to be.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the DNA will probably gain more votes than any third party in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n
People have to choose the better of three unpalatable options in this election.\u00a0 And it ain\u2019t gonna be pretty.\u00a0 Is it better to go with the devil you know or the one you don\u2019t?\u00a0 Certainly, the PLP and FNM have themselves to blame for a lot of what they will suffer in 2012, because they refuse to renew themselves, despite the people\u2019s yearning for rebirth.<\/p>\n
Now, there\u2019s another possibility: I may be dead wrong in accusing McCartney of delusions of grandeur.\u00a0 McCartney may well know the DNA can\u2019t win it all (I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll even win his seat in Bamboo Town). But he may be gaining immense pleasure from knowing he\u2019s going to give Christie and Ingraham fits.\u00a0 He may also have concluded that he has nothing to lose and that by losing in 2012 as head of the DNA he sets himself ahead of anyone else who may be aspiring to lead the PLP or FNM in 2017. And that would make him a lot more savvy a politician than I have given him credit for being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since launching the DNA, McCartney\u2019s remarks have simply confirmed my impression that he is playing a game and if he wins, we may lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[182,126,168],"class_list":["post-13719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-dna","tag-elections","tag-politics-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}