The Referendum on Sunday may herald the beginning of the Age of Decline.
To drag Greece decades back due to the mistakes of political leadership that repeatedly made mistakes. Mistakes that were made irrespective of ideology, age, origin and education.
Younger politicians unexpectedly glorified, confirming that it is easier to reach the top than to remain on top.
The last three (relatively young) politicians appear to follow this tradition. The “charismatic” Mr. G. Papandreou assumed power with glory, only to pass it on in time, when the financial crisis emerged. Mr. Antonis Samaras became Prime Minister with the hopes of the conservative faction, hopes which ended up with a young leftist.
The case of Mr. Alexis Tsipras has prompted many discussions. Some have characterized his as the politician of the past two decades, other deride him as the Prime Minister of the “left-wing parenthesis”.
Already Mr. Tsipras is called upon to demonstrate more of his capabilities, so that public opinion can classify him in the position he deserves.
In of his recent interviews ahead of the Referendum he emphatically stated that he is not an all-weather Prime Minister. Namely? The proper meaning of the term “all-weather” refers to the captains of planes or ships who will travel irrespective of the weather conditions.
The other meaning, with the addition of “I am not”, refers to those who travel when there are no problems, as in a “fair-weather” captain.
The way things are panning out Mr. Tsipras will be called upon to prove who he is and what he can or cannot do, as of Monday, irrespective of the result of the Referendum which he called.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Saturday print edition
