On Saturday, Mr. Alberto Núñez Feijóo was in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and I refrained from going to see him because I was afraid I would not be moderate and inclusive enough to be allowed to enter. These two features of his speech are still admirable: a) the promise of moderationism, which all the leaders of the PP have made, without excluding Manuel Fraga in the eighties; b) the integrating character, so profound in the cadres and public positions of the party that two or three weeks after proclaiming their unwavering adherence to Pablo Casado, photos were already being taken signing the endorsement in favor of the Galician president, some, such as Mrs. Luz Reverón, dying of laughter, as if he were choosing a partner for the First Date program. It is possible to suspect that what propels the overwhelming wave that Núñez Feijóo surfs like a barnacle finally freed from its Galician destiny is more the sense of survival – maintaining the status quo is essential to keep numerous careers and payrolls alive – than the strict conviction leadership staff. The Canarian organization of the PP has painted absolutely nothing, even to offer its humble opinion, in Casado’s succession, as very little will obviously influence the formation of the national leadership that the imminent president will appoint next month. Without a consolidated leader, with very little municipal or island power in the archipelago, the weight of the PP of the Canary Islands in Genoa is practically undetectable.
While Núñez Feijóo spoke, a server grew sad. It is difficult to find a Galician writer who does not know how to write, but if you want to find one I would look for him around the president of the Xunta. It is a speech – the one that has been repeated everywhere in recent days – that practices various and uninteresting verbal contortions to say absolutely nothing, except how moderate and inclusive it is. Would you agree with Vox to reach the Government of Spain? I am moderate. Would you reach state pacts with the PSOE? I am an integrator. This is not Galicianism or Galicianism, but an eagerness to tease voters, including – due to its integrating grace – PP voters. Don’t bother me now that I’m a couple of petty errands away from finally being crowned. Gone are octopuses, traffickers, relatives with fraternal contracts, that boredom diluted to the bone under the orballo, dealing with fucking bosses from three to a quarter so as not to lose 3,000 votes and thus keep a deputy or a council. Their emotion is understandable, but right now the country lives in a critical situation with a war in Europe that is already impacting the daily economy of citizens, and will do so more intensely in the future. Is this miserable nothing what the new president of the Popular Party has to offer in a crisis as serious as this one, with such threatening uncertainties, with such a dark and doubtful future, precisely on the eve of the meeting of the Conference of Autonomous Presidents whose basic agenda is the design and burdens of a war economy? That’s it? That you are moderate, inclusive and a good manager? Does this gentleman believe that he will run a fish market in La Coruña or a neighborhood association in Betanzos?
It is a lousy start and a sign that the Spanish right will not soon find a way out of its peculiar labyrinth. Disregarding the definition of a country model, abandoning the defense of liberal-conservative values and showing indifference towards the role of political culture in the Spanish public space is not a sign of excessive intelligence. Convincing people to vote for you because the Galician cows are the happiest in the Iberian Peninsula – and you should ask them – seems very risky to me.
