Alsina's interview with Sánchez: banality and lies

The long-awaited interview of Carlos Alsina with the President of the Government was enormously disappointing. Despite the fact that both managed well within their frameworks, the irrelevance of the vast majority of the issues that were discussed in it indicates a clear distance from the political sphere, and from the media, of the needs of our country..

The interview was raised from an axis that Alsina put on the table from her initial question, and that she did not abandon throughout the approximately 50 minutes of conversation: “Why have you lied to us so much, President?”.

💬 Alsina: Why have you lied to us so much, President?

💬 Sánchez: Tell me what

👇 Follow the interview live https://t.co/PGeaea1cxV pic.twitter.com/exezs5FDlc

– Onda Cero (@OndaCero_es) June 19, 2023

It is likely that this starting point was celebrated by voters hostile to Sánchez, who must have understood that, finally, someone was standing up to the socialist leader on one of the issues that they understand to be most relevant to the elections, the character and personality of the president.. If we pay attention to the polls, one of the biggest weaknesses of the Socialists in the face of the general elections is that their leader is perceived as unfriendly and false by a large part of the voters.

The question that the PSOE continues to ask

This framework has a long way to go, because it has been and is decisive when proposing the electoral tactics of 23-J from the dominant parties. In Moncloa, they understood that Sánchez's personality weighed down the results of 28-M, and that, therefore, this perception had to be combated decisively in the following elections. The discursive position was made clear by Sánchez himself from the day after: media pressure and the lies of the right had built a way of seeing the socialists, anti-Sanchism, which was damaging them. That was the main explanation they found for the dilemma that tormented them on election night: if the measures that had been taken were good, if the macroeconomic figures were objectively verifiable, if the economy was going after two deep crises, how was it possible that the electorate would not have repaid satisfactorily?

This punishment, which went more to the left than to the PSOE, reinforced the conviction that the effectiveness of the measures that had been adopted, whether on the economy or on Catalonia, was ineffective in the face of the anti-Sanchismo that the media and the right had diffused. The government's action had been positive, but the partners on which they had relied, the president's fluctuating and arrogant attitude, and the slippages in laws promoted by Podemos, such as yes is yes, had led them to lose power.

Once the diagnosis was made, it was time for the counterattack. From there arises the insistence on Vox, on its agreements with the PP, on the motto of The best Spain, that of modernity against reaction. Since the management did not give revenues, it was necessary to insist on issues related to customs and progress: that is where his sympathizers could be mobilized again.

📻💬 The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, admits having had disagreements with Irene Montero regarding the 'only yes is yes' law and assures that he tried to persuade him of the mistake that had been madehttps://t.co/s4R0ATew9L

— More Than One (@MasDeUno) June 19, 2023

From the right, the diagnosis did not change either: the anti-sanchismo was working, it was not the time to change the framework. It was necessary to insist on Bildu, in Catalonia, on the excesses of the partners and on the character of the president. The two main contenders agreed on the key points of the campaign.

what he said and what he did

The interview with Alsina moved along these lines, which tried to highlight Sánchez's different twists, to emphasize his person (“How do you think you will be remembered, President?”) and the distance between what he said and what he did. The director of Más de uno was percussing that line over and over again, and Sánchez defended himself with ease, with a soft tone, without seeking confrontation and without an iota of arrogance or haughtiness; rather he tried to adopt a reasonable and calm stance in the face of criticism.

The problem with all this is that it is fruitless, banal, lacking in perspective. The way of being of the president cannot be the first electoral element at a time like the present. And it is not that the trust generated by a leader is irrelevant, which it is not, but that, at this point, we all have a clear impression of who Pedro Sánchez is and what his way of acting is.. Returning to the subject may be satisfying as a show, but politically uninteresting.

life of common people

And this is so for reasons of depth. One of them was highlighted by Javier Jorrín in this newspaper when pointing out the divergence between the macroeconomic and micro discourse: the recovery has not reached the lower classes or a large part of the media, who are suffering from the crisis. It usually happens, but this time it is special, because there are several recessions in a row that have been enduring. Perhaps one of the reasons why left-wing voters did not mobilize for 28-M, and that they appear behind in the polls for 23-J, also has to do with this distance between the large numbers and the daily ones. Perhaps these measures have come in handy for a part of the population, but they have not had an effect on classes that are especially stressed, and hence the distancing when it comes to voting; Perhaps it is that management has not been as effective as we are told.

🔴💬 Pedro Sánchez explains how he would like to be rememberedhttps://t.co/BJo2bmT7Tx

— More Than One (@MasDeUno) June 19, 2023

Undoubtedly, the bad moment of the left has several causes, but this is one of them, and it is not usually mentioned, because we are entangled with anti-Sanchism. And it is relevant because, beyond the fact that it has many or few electoral effects, it constitutes the reality of many Spanish citizens, so it would be expected that the political sphere would take it into consideration for the future.. There is a general phenomenon of loss of resources and vital options among a large part of the Spanish population that demands a response to match, and no party is providing it.

This general trend is very relevant, to the extent that it points to the urgency of changes in the political mentality: new projects are needed in Spain that can place us in a future that seems complicated.. We very often forget the existential moment that we are living as Europeans: the war in Ukraine is hitting us seriously, and not only due to temporary weakness, but also due to structural. Germany, the center of Europe and the benchmark for Spain, has come to a screeching halt, and has been thrown into a new world in which it lacks Russian energy, its industry stalls, it must invest in a military it lacks, and relations global trade, especially with China, appear much more dubious than a few years ago. In this new tension between the US and China, Europe appears as the weak giant, and Spain is in the most fragile part of the EU.

The French reaction, on the contrary, seems imbued with urgency, and is seeking to reposition itself based on a determined boost to the industry, through new global ties and a European reconfiguration. In Spain we are not even thinking about how to act in this new world, just the one that throws us to a secondary place. It is not a minor problem, it is an existential challenge, and the formulas that had been thought of before the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to strengthen our country, such as the green reinvention, are now insufficient. It is urgent to think about Spain, and here we are thinking about gender terminology and whether or not the president is nice.

The shelter in the past

In this situation, the main parties, but also the rest, show a special fondness for the past. All we know about the PP is that, if it governs, it will repeal some of the rules issued by Sánchez and his partners and that it will lower taxes. The first implies being more aware of yesterday than of tomorrow; the second is a simple toast to the sun: if Europe decides that it is time for fiscal consolidation, for the reduction of the public deficit and the repayment of the debt, Feijóo will raise taxes on the popular and middle classes, as Rajoy already did because there will be no other. All we have known about the PP is that they have a clear idea, that of removing Sánchez from power, but we do not know what his government actions will be. A party with options to govern should have a State project that goes beyond sanchismo or freedom, and much more at a time like this.

Nor is the PSOE giving answers to those questions. His campaign is focused on preventing the advance of the extreme right (a position that is hardly successful, it needs a lot more) and his recipes for the future consist of deepening the path that has already begun in the coalition government.. The times demand other approaches, more ambitious and far-reaching, but that vision is not on the table, because we continue to discuss whether or not Sánchez is a liar. It is part of that flattened Spain, without ideas and thrown into commonplaces, that we need to leave behind..