Jackson, The problem with Torrijos and Endara is...

THE problem? Or maybe just MY problem. But I don’t think I’m the only one.

It’s easy enough to eliminate Ricardo Martinelli and José Miguel Alemán from consideration as serious presidential candidates --- not only because of their hopelessly low standings in the polls, but also, even though it doesn’t get discussed because few care to take the time to consider the histories of sure losers, because any careful examination of their respective records in public life leaves them discredited.

The problem, then, is in the choice between Martín Torrijos and Guillermo Endara, the former who has hardly any record in public office and a questionable history as a party boss, the latter who has a controversial record in public office and not much of a history with the party that’s backing him. To put it bluntly, both Torrijos and Endara are trusted by people who are not to be trusted.

If you look at either man you can see salient strengths and weaknesses, and in each case legitimate doubts arise. However, in neither case is there any apparent cause to conclude that “this guy’s a crook,” or that “we’re dealing someone who’s simply incapable of doing the job.”

Yes, I know. A large chunk of the Panamanian electorate will presume both of these things if the candidate is from the Torrijista tradition, and another substantial group will presume them of anyone with an Arnulfista past. But neither Torrijos nor Endara have been caught stealing a million dollars from the public trust, nor have they been shown on videotape accepting bribes. Endara’s academic record and life accomplishments suggest that he possesses a superior intellect, and if Torrijos can’t match these things all of the evidence available to the public nevertheless indicates that he’s no dummy either. Endara has had some odd moments, but nothing to suggest that he’s off his rocker, while Torrijos --- unlike his father --- comes across as almost boringly normal. I’m not a member of any political party, and I look at these two men and in each case conclude that it wouldn’t be an obvious disaster if he were elected president.

But when I look around each of these men, I find cause for alarm.

Is the real message of the Torrijos campaign “it’s our turn,” a philosophy of alternating continuity brought to us by the self- serving apparatchiki of the dictatorship and the Pérez Balladares years? Is the angry rhetorical question that Balbina Herrera posed on the “Debate Abierto” talk show --- “Who’s more corrupt?” --- a proper basis of trust upon which a presidential ballot ought to be cast? These are concerns raised not by Martín Torrijos himself, but upon observation of those around him.

Is the real message of the Endara campaign the non-alternating power of the nation’s wealthy business interests? Can we trust men like Samuel Lewis Galindo not to trample the interests of working Panamanians in favor of his own income bracket, or for that matter to even remotely understand what it means to live on $400 a month or less? Will the Joe McCarthy of Panamanian politics, ex-legislator and former Vice-Minister of Canal Affairs Leo González, be rewarded for his leap from Martinelli’s camp to Endara’s with an important post in the next government? These concerns are likewise not about the candidate himself, but arise when one takes note of his entourage.

Torrijos does not help things by his mostly vague policy messages, and his insistence that the campaign isn’t an appropriate time to disclose the identities of the people whom he’d appoint to key positions. Endara doesn’t help things by his refusal to disclose the identities of his campaign contributors, and by a platform that’s only slightly more specific than his principal opponent’s.

There remain some four months in which Martín Torrijos and Guillermo Endara might address these questions. But as all the legislative candidates get into the act the doubts may very well grow.

The bottom line is that both of these men are the chosen representatives of disreputable factions of a discredited political class. Maybe they don’t head the MOST discredited factions --- after all, Torrijos isn’t a Norieguista and Endara isn’t a Mireyista, and almost by default either one is likely to be a better president than the one we have now. But if we judge the two front-runners by the company they keep it’s hard to see either one leading Panama off of the well trodden circular path that we really need to put behind us.

Unless, of course, the winner takes us by surprise with that sort of ingratitude that Panama needs at this juncture, the slightly insolent attitude that distinguishes leaders from lapdogs.

Also in this section:
Gutman, After the tyrant from Tikrit is forgotten
Leis, Guernica and El Chorrillo
Fisher, The trouble with the Panamanian left
Girvan, Caribbean ministers ponder progress
Clark, Jobs are the biggest US export
Jackson, Misgivings about the main candidates

opinion

The problem is...