bluntlysaid

I am a fanatic of the West Wing and curse politics for not producing a real life version of President Bartlett. Recipient of a Nobel price in economics, the ficitonal Bartlett is both a champion of conservative fiscal and economic policies. He also has a track record of pursuing liberal social policies, advancing equality among different races and ethnicities, while rallying people on all sides with unbelievable speech making skills…

Then I read this article about Brazil’s current president and realized that maybe politics has produced a Bartlett, simply not in the United States.

Here are a few of President Lula’s paradoxical accomplishments/characteristics:

• Labor Union Leader (Leeeeft)
• Conservative economic policy–won his first election and assuaged investors, telling them he will not alter the previous administration’s economic policty (Firm Right)
• Publicly praises Venezuela’s Chavez (Left)
• Then pursues open (U.S. inclusive) trade policies to strengthen his country (how Lula uses oil) (Right)
• Then supports development alternatives that literally compete head-to-head with Venezuela’s initiatives, like a development bank. (Smack dab in the middle)

There’s more. I don’t know much about Lula so I cannot write much, but I think that he calibrates the good and bad of both sides to his advantage more perfectly than any president to grace our headlines in a very, very long time. Bravo.