September 14, 2007

Bringing Back the Past

They say that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Election season is in full swing, both in Pakistan and in the US. It may be the 21st Century, but it is the faces of the 20th Century that still predominate.
During the last days of the 20th Century, the American people had grown weary of the Clinton Presidency and its seemingly endless sleazy scandals. There was some palpable relief when it ended.
The failures of the Bush Presidency, however, revived the Clintons.
In the post- 9/11 era, with its seemingly endless conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is now a craving for change. But the front runner of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, is the spouse of the scandal-ridden Bill Clinton. When the need is for the future, she is about the past. If Hillary wins, Bill will again come back to the White House – this time as First Husband.
Similarly, in Pakistan, the follies and foibles of the existing order have resuscitated the fortunes of the proven failures of the past.
The current situation has been crudely characterized as a boxing bout in which the winner will likely be the one who throws the most powerful punches. But the loser in this bout may be the Pakistan public, which could receive the bulk of the pounding.
Whatever the outcome of deals, the fact of the matter is that it is the public who may end up with the raw deal.
It is a failure of imagination and also of a decayed political culture. The willingness to endure all kinds of humiliation in order to cling on to kursi and to pursue paisa has become a major cultural embarrassment.
When the requirement is to move forward towards a hopeful tomorrow, the habit is to get stuck in the quagmire of yesterdays.
In the US, none of the many Presidential candidates has shown the guts or vision to craft a new Middle East policy which can change for the better the disastrous paradigm of Islam-West tensions, which equally threatens vital American interests.
In Pakistan, none of the principal players has shown the capacity to go beyond Me-First policies, and redirect the nation to dig deep and salvage, out of the current mess, a fresh outlook and a new ‘soch’.
There is a tendency to seek consolation by referring to an abundance of talent. But talent is of little use if it is poorly managed and mobilized.
Genuine progress will not come without collective efforts in this direction. Without self-correction, two key negatives may well continue: Praise and Plunder. Praise of the Chair and plunder of the Treasury.
There is, however, one significant obstacle in trying to bring back the past. The facts have changed so dramatically in the post-9/11 era that it may be untenable to do so.