Caracas Chronicles

I don’t want to bring the US political process into the blog except to say this one, basic thing: Barack Obama’s victory yesterday – at a time when many odds were stacked up against him – tells me that people want authenticity. They want leaders who know where they are going, who have an idea of where they want to take us and do their darndest to take us there.

People care less and less these days about where that place might be. After all, not many people can understand the economic consequences of taking this or that position on the fiscal cliff (now there’s a metaphor for ya). I think that, ultimately, they appreciate having a position – setting a goal, and going for it.

It’s the vision thing.

In politics, particularly so when countries are in a crisis, it sometimes pays to ditch the pastels and go bold. Just ask Obama, Reagan, Thatcher, Chávez, or Putin. You couldn’t fault any of these folks for “triangulating,” for “compromising” on core issues.

I keep hoping that in Venezuela more and more voices will come out and ditch the wishy-washy, fresh-out-of-a-focus-group rhetoric (“las misiones hay que ampliarlas,” “ningún empleado público va a perder su trabajo”), and begin calling things by their name.

Someday, it may just pay to do so.