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PoetryIn-e-Motion

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The soap called "politics"

How is it that politics come to look more and more like bad episodes from a cheap soap series?

The Bold and the Beautiful, Handyman Clinton, As The World Turns, Pim Fortuyn Bites It, The Young And The Restless, Ballots Are Bollocks (Bush wanders the jungle), Days Of Our Lives, Jäätteenmäki Bends Over Backwards, etc. etc.

It got really bad in the times of US period until about the year 2000. Mr Bill Clinton ruled the White House and did that with the pride of a true US president. He dearly cared for his people, and especially for his staff. He thought it important that his trainees got the best education possible, and gave special attention to the females in his department. One in particular could count on his personal attention all the way. No secrets were left unobserved for her and he left her with a handful of confidential matter. This gesture was greatly appreciated, as she stared at him with open mouth. When this came out in the open, he-told-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the- truth-so-help-me-god in two tours, first saying "I DID NOT HAVE ORAL SEX WITH HER!!!", awhile later followed by "immediately...". Mrs Clinton in the mean time ran her own political program, standing fast behind her husband as a genuine Second Lady is supposed to do, but preparing her own little future career. If we may believe her (but we probably may not, since... well... Bill lied, and she herself wasn't completely out in the open herself), she will not run for president, but secretly, behind closed doors, Bill is right on his way to be the First Man, doing time for the third time in the White House.
Of course after this scene it was quite clear that Bill wouldn"t make it for president a third term and he saved himself the disgrace of re-running. In his place came Mr Al Gore, who was supposed to take it on with Mr George W Bush jr., yeah, that's right, the son of a B...ush (HA! You thought I was going to say something else, right?) sr.
There's a loooong story to be told about Mr Bush jr. but let's not go there right now.

Do we really think that all the exciting things happen in the US?
Disappointing, but no. Take for example Holland.
Elections are coming up and all the parties are presenting their horse. Leefbaar Nederland (freely translated "Livable Holland") comes up with Mr Pim Fortuyn. Already a senior in Dutch politics, but always in the background. And now he is brought forward to propose the ideas for his party. As soon as he puts into words the ideas that he is supposed to propose for his party, he his violently pulled back, kicked out of the party and back into the background. What he said was highly controversial, but with a lot of things it was exactly that what "the people" thought, yet didn't dare say. Pim Fortuyn hit the nail on the head, hit his party members against the head and was bluntly set aside, because his party was too chicken to admit that they meant exactly the same, although they would've said it in different words.
Meanwhile Pim Fortuyn started his own party, which, due to lack of time, he had to form with total political illiterates, but he promised that after the elections he would form a proper party with members who knew what they were talking about.
His party florished in the polls: from nothing up into fourth place in the elections. Needless to say that disasters never walk alone and a week before the elections Pim Fortuyn was shot down and fatally wounded in the parking lot of Holland's biggest media complex Studio Aalsmeer, all in broad daylight.
It was impossible for the party to step back, because they were so high in the polls. The election came and indeed, Pim Fortuyn's party became the fourth biggest party in the country, having a big say in what was going to happen. Needless to say that disasters never walk alone and that became all the more clear when a new chairman had to be chosen to take Pim Fortuyn's place. Since all the people in the party were political illiterates they started fighting about the position. Public disgrace and rumors within the government. The chosen prime ministers warned them to get a grip, but all they did was lose grip. What they did get was greedy. When dividing the minister's posts, they wouldn't settle for less and started fighting about that within the government. Not only were arguments more rule than exception within the party, but now it also spread out throughout the government. And as a big final bang, when the party agreed (under protest) with how the minister's posts were divided, it became clear that one of the appointed ministers from the party had had a dubious role in the December killings in the regime of Desi Bouterse, army and party leader in Surinam. This launched another debate and 84 days after the government was formed the prime minister filed a motion of distrust and blew up the government. New elections were signed and after the new election the party of former-Pim Fortuyn sank all the way to the second last place. It took about three months to form a new government after the elections.

Thinking that 84 days for a sitting government is a short period? May I then move your attention to Finland, where the government after election lasted for only 59 days. It was a unique combination, a female president and a female prime minister. Yet, Jäätteenmäki, the prime minister, appeared to have been a tiny bit too anxious to get her position. She had been bending over backwards to get certain confidential papers from the president's advisor regarding Finland's involvement in the Iraq-matter, papers which she wasn't allowed to see. But what can you do? It's hard to refuse a nagging woman.
This information "mysteriously" leaked and caused a crack in the double female political team. A crack that proved to be irrepairable. Matti Vanhanen cursed himself to have taken the party leadership, because while the socialists bent Jäätteenmäki back in the right position and threatened to screw her over if she didn't resign, which she promptly did, he was unhappily thrown into the prime minister's seat, a position he never really wanted in the first place.
Now both Jäätteenmäki and the advisor are both in court explaining their actions, and Jäätteenmäki smiles in the same way as Bill Clinton did when he-told-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the- truth-so-help-me-god.

The next interesting episode reveals the upcoming election in the US. Let's see if George W Bush jr. can buy himself a second term in the White House...