editorial

As this editorial was written there had been much public speculation about Martín Torrijos’s ministerial appointments, but no formal announcements had been made about the president-elect's choices to fill most of his cabinet posts. The few appointments that he did announce, and the names floated about some of the other positions, seem to be of capable people.

Yes, it’s important for the president-elect to appoint qualified and trustworthy people to the government’s important posts.

But more important will be the policies his appointees carry out. What does Martín want his team to do?

It is unfortunate that in the course of the recent election campaign we didn’t get to hear many details of Torrijos’s plans for the next government. Moreover, some of the things that he’ll have to do will be unpopular, so much so that he would have lost votes had he spoken of them during the campaign.

But the time for campaign promises is over, and the time for solid performance draws near.

Immediately facing the new administration will be the questions of whether and how to expand the Panama Canal, free trade talks with the United States, the downward spiral of the Social Security Fund and a dysfunctional and much abused civil service system.

Looming large at all times will be more fundamental questions: How do we reduce our chronic high unemployment? How do we rebuild the public schools to meet current and future needs? How do we more rationally manage our natural resources? How do we promote our goods, services, tourist attractions and culture abroad? How does Panama ensure justice for all?

It’s quite a plate full. Fortunately for him, when Martín Torrijos leaves office, we will measure his greatness, mediocrity or disposability not by whether he has answered all of these questions with the perfect solutions, perfectly applied, but by how much progress he has made in which directions.

Martín Torrijos could succeed and ensure a bright future for the country and his party for the next generation, or he could lead the PRD to disaster as Mireya Moscoso did with the Arnulfista Party --- all depending on the results that he and his team will have to show.

Yes, they’ll have to work within all sorts of limits, including the major ones imposed by world and regional economic facts beyond their control. You’d be surprised how many people take those sorts of things into account and judge an administration’s performance in terms of what it did, given the circumstances imposed upon it.

And don’t mistake a longer view toward results as an end-justifies-the-means attitude. Actually, most ends of most things ---- intended or otherwise --- are affected by choices of means. In government as in a metal shop, you generally have to use the right tool --- and use it right --- to get the best result.

We didn’t hire Martín Torrijos to an apprenticeship in government. He’d better know the tools of his trade. Panamanians hired him to lead us, to guide our nation away from tough times toward more prosperity, “zero corruption” and more effective government.

The new administration has won a clear electoral mandate. People expect it to govern. Even among those who voted for other candidates, a great majority of Panamanians sincerely wish the Torrijos administration every success in governing. In September the PRD will control both the executive and legislative branches. Even if the Mireyista-dominated courts are going to be a problem, the PRD won’t have too many excuses five years from now.

Nobody’s going to want to hear Martín explain why “no se puede” then.

The policies that they pursue to address the immense problems facing Panama will in large part determine the reputations of the eminent men and women who are about to join the next administration, and of Martín Torrijos himself. Their resumes, their family trees and their connections won’t matter in the end. Neither will any alibis. What they do in office will.

Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.

Germaine Greer

I would seriously recommend to the government of the United States that when a man commits a crime so heinous that the law provides no adequate punishment for it, that they make him Consul General to Tangier.

Mark Twain

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?

Satchel Paige