A Soap-Opera President

Like Carol II, when he used to go out for girls in Bucharest in the middle of the night, Traian Basescu drove his car to the "Marius Nasta" Hospital on Monday, the 26th of June 2006.

In front of the cameras, the President reasoned his visit by saying he wanted to see the conditions under which the patients are treated. In the past, at the beginning of his mandate as mayor, he was taken care of in this hospital and he had promised to get back and check things out. Traian Basescu became mayor for the first time in 2000. Six years have passed ever since. After listening to the President, the people of his country would be curious to find out the reasons of his sudden remembering of the hospital of his political beginnings. In the same time, the same people would have wondered about why he had to drive his own car and about the actual reason of this presidential fair.

This would be the case of conscious people, which is not the case of Romanians. The Romanians are soap-opera people.

This is why, instead of asking themselves such questions, the Romanians were very impressed.

On Thursday, the 22nd of June 2006, during the funerals of the soldier killed in Afghanistan, Traian Basescu burst into tears.

Some could see a resemblance between this and the famous scene in which Catavencu (a famous Romanian comedy character) gets down on his knees crying for his country.

It is the case of conscious people, but certainly not the case of Romanians.

The Romanians that listen to gipsy songs dressed in their undershirt in front of the blocks of flats they live in, the Romanians that cry while watching soap operas have been more than impressed. Some of them even cried together with the President.

This is exactly what Traian Basescu wanted. Traian Basescu’s crying was an actual stratagem, a brilliant stratagem under the circumstances of these soap-opera people.

For western-like people, live crying during prime time would destroy the President. Just imagine George W. Bush crying live on CNN because several soldiers have blew up in Iraq!

When Stolojan was forced to get out of the electoral campaign, the crying stratagem appeared as a need for something to cover in soap-opera style the dirty political aspects of the hand on. During the electoral campaign for the Bucharest City Hall, Traian Basescu had sworn not to leave the people for the presidential position.

Crying caused an immense soap-opera-like smoke wall to cover the change stratagem. Impressed by Traian Basescu’s sensitiveness towards the fate of his friend Stolojan, the Romanians didn’t see the hands that got into their electoral pockets.

Ionel Dragusanu died miles away from home, in a foreign country, sent by Traian Basescu to defend a cause of the Great Light.

Mister President is himself the main person to be held responsible for his death. This unfortunate happening could have made the Romanians ask why the President doesn’t get the soldiers sent in Iraq and Afghanistan back into the country.

In order to avoid such a question, Traian Basescu started to cry.

As for the live covered revolt regarding the conditions at the "Marius Nasta" Hospital, the people of some other country would have asked about the things the President had done for this cause since his naming in this position. Conscious people expect that a President elected by them and paid from the state budget should also solve problems, not only spot them. However, the Romanians are soap-opera people.

Marx says people have the fate they deserve. This way, one could say that the Romanians finally have the President they deserve.

Translated by SORIN BALAN