Lula, whose government is now so rife with corruption that the populist is facing impeachment, has apparently decided on a new public relations strategy. Protesting innocence and offering exculpatory evidence is for losers, the new breed of angel-pure, Latin-American leftists simply tells the citizenry that they're a bunch of scumbags and should stop being so goddamn hypocritical:
As his government and his reputation collapse around him, Mr. daSilva in Brazil has taken a similar tack. He initially contended that"as regards its electoral behavior, the Workers' Party did what hasbeen done systematically in Brazil." But he has since abandoned thoseexcuses in favor of protestations of innocence and personal integrity.
"Among 180 million Brazilians, there is no one, neither man nor woman,with the authority to lecture me about ethics, morals or honesty," hesaid in a speech here last week. "In this country, the person who candebate ethics with me has yet to be born."
There's also a dangerous geopolitical aspect to all this. A few short years ago, Lula was a hero, a hope. He was a Democratically elected labor leader who promised populism without authoritiarianism. But, to the Brazilian people, he and his promises are failing. And when hope in democrats gets dashed, resignation towards dictators reemerges:
Frustration has reached dangerous levels in several countries, withsometimes violent street protests. The shift from authoritariangovernments to democracies, many had hoped, would squelch the kind ofcorruption that predominated when dictators ran the affairs of state tothe benefit of a small clique of insiders and threatenedwhistle-blowers.
Yet successor governments across the politicalspectrum, whether free-market advocates like Mr. Toledo orself-proclaimed leftists like Mr. da Silva, have proved even moresusceptible. With once-closed economies having been opened up andcorporate profits at record levels, the opportunities for graft andbribes are larger than ever.
So widespread is the disgust thatlast year another regionwide poll found that a majority of LatinAmericans would prefer a return to dictatorship if it would bringeconomic benefits. Despite improved economic indicators since then, theranks of the poor have continued to swell, as has the resentment ofthose who are pocketing the wealth of the nation for their own benefit.