Caracas Chronicles

I hate to continue barking at the shenanigans of the opposition’s old guard, but they make it so difficult!

This weekend, we had a double-whammy of bone-headed ideas from two of the figureheads of yester-yore, Manuel Rosales and Henrique Salas Römer.

First off, Rosales.

His party, Un Nuevo Tiempo, one of the opposition’s most important, just announced that they are suggesting his name to be the opposition’s standard-bearer in next year’s elections.

Never mind that he’s in exile, living in Peru. Never mind that in the last election, he got a whopping 36.9% of the vote. Oh, and never mind that UNT is also proposing Zulia governor Pablo Pérez as a candidate.

Nothing yells “unity” and “competence” more than a major political party suggesting two different people as candidates, both maracuchos, one of them conducting his campaign via Blackberry.

Then there is Salas Römer. The opposition’s 1998 candidate, who captured an underwhelming 39% of the vote, thinks the best thing would be for the opposition to select its candidate … in July of 2012.

Yes, folks. Salas Römer’s idea would give the opposition candidate a good four months to get voters to know him.

Never mind that Hugo Chávez’s re-election campaign is already under way. Salas Römer seems to think that the best answer to that is to … not have a candidate at all until the very last minute! Y’know,  ’cause that worked out so well the last time!

The old guard never fails to disappoint.