Gonzi in the Middle

I think that Maltese politicians lack the ability to find a sweet spot in anything they do. And I really mean anything.
They can't find a sweet spot between promoting themselves and bashing the other. They cannot find a sweet spot between being humble and going way over the top. They cannot find a sweet spot between private and public.
More then anything, they cannot find a sweet spot between taking things lightly and taking themselves way to seriously.

And they really do take themselves too seriously. Just look at the current US Republican race  Belgian government crisis Nationalist leader election. Reading through some of the articles about it makes me chuckle, gag, and vomit a little in my mouth.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday called for a sincere verdict from the 800 or so PN councillors who later this month are expected to vote in a leadership contest that will likely only have him as a candidate. (source: Times of Malta)

"that will likely only have him as a candidate"... "that will likely only have him as a candidate".
Really, I can't stress that stroke of comedy genius quite enough. And funnily, (or should I say scarily), the Nationalist drones are still taking this whole charade seriously.
After all, why is he calling this election anyway? Any honest-to-self politician anywhere in the world would have immediately resigned once the parliamentary majority is lost. He has truly failed, miserably, at his job. Does he honestly think the country needs him so badly? Does he have such a high opinion of himself that he will contest an internal election for which he's the only candidate, North Korea style? 


On both sides of the junkyard that is the parliament, however, we are blessed with people who really, honestly, think they're some kind of neo-Messiahs. I wouldn't like to suggest something so horrible on my worst of enemies, but for the sake of this article, pick any public event hosted by any of the 2 arch-minges and look for a video. You would be excused to think that they are internationally relevant figures.  In reality they're the Prime Minister and Opposition leader of the country the size of a London borough with the population of Manchester, but with the pompousness of Sarkozy or Obama. Or Kim Jong-il even, judging by the sole-candidate-election stunt.

Then on the polar opposite you have this asshole (seek to 3:03):

As I mentioned, this IS a charade, and really is the subject of ridicule. But this guy is a Minister of a country, regardless of how irrelevant it is. I don't think even a Councillor in some god-forsaken town in the deep South of the USA would be so ignorant as to take things so lightly and mock the situation. Really a vomit-inducing person of the highest order.

In my view, a politician should be a humble servant of the people that elected him, yet authoritarian at just the right level to hammer his ideals and proposed reforms into place, topped with a true love for the country and garnished with a realistic outlook of himself. Basically the opposite of the gang of spray-painters and panel-beaters currently poisoning our country.

Then one wonders why the average IQ of the country is equivalent to a chair's. With people like these acting as role-models, I'm surprised the population isn't actually devolving into Homo Erectus once again.