Instead of campaign events, for 23-J the parties are offering skits. We see the same thing with the Prime Minister telling jokes while interviewing himself from a Ferraz set as with the PP spokesman, Borja Sémper, walking barefoot along an artificial beach claiming Verano azul. As ridiculous as they may seem, which they are, they are still more revealing than they seem.
The PP has been criticized a lot for holding its campaign presentation act on a Madrid beach. The memes made themselves. Come on, there will be no beaches in Spain, critics say, enough for a San Sebastian like Sémper to have to pose between blue umbrellas before a sea of plasma on take away sand and in a Madrid sports center.
Perhaps the critics have not understood the genius of the metaphor. Isn't Feijóo being accused of misrule in Genoa? Isn't it being questioned internally and externally that in each region the popular barons make opposing decisions in the pacts with Vox? Well, what better way to get noticed from Madrid and recover some centralism than with an artificial beach. Nothing more Madrid than the lack of sea.
In reality, making visible that something is done from Madrid is not easy at all. The capital is so ubiquitous that it often becomes invisible to politicians, like water to fish. For the parties it is very difficult to make notice that something is done from where almost everything happens. There are so many press conferences in the capital, so many politicians looking for a house and so many groups guessing ministers that they no longer know what to invent. Let's see how you make yourself heard when there are more microphones than ears. So in full confrontation with Vox for power in Extremadura, in the midst of all the contradictions, Genoa arrives with a coup d'état. Madrid has spoken. It does not matter what he said, but it has been fixed from Madrid. How can it not be from Madrid if the beach is artificial. If Sémper had launched the slogan “tranquility blue, confidence blue, security blue” from an Andalusian beach, it would have attracted less attention. And it is better to discard the Alicante beaches now that Genoa wants to distance itself from Valencia.
When Feijóo has tried to explain the internal mess as a result of the express agreement with Vox in Valencia and the risk of electoral repetition in Extremadura, blaming the numbers, while María Guardiola alleges that the important thing is the principles, the contradictions were evident. So maybe it makes more sense than it seems to have staged a skit. Thus, the versions that Sémper has tried to clarify are not the same, because all that can be talked about is the absurdity of a Madrid beach..
It is also more revealing than what President Sánchez seems to have, in his free time between visits to Greater Wyoming and the Hormiguero, meeting with his ministers in Ferraz. After having blamed the media for his defeat in the previous elections, he has chosen to amend himself with media overexposure.. Could it be that he has suddenly understood what the polls have been saying for a long time: Sánchez does not like him. And to remedy it in a hurry, he talks about his underwear in El Intermedio, which he tries to make fun of nothing less than an interview with Luis Planas..
“For Feijóo, the debates are like gyms in January, you sign up, but you never go,” said Sánchez this week at one of these pre-campaign events in Ferraz with the Minister of Agriculture. That the phrase has overshadowed any discussion on the agrarian policy of that act will not be a surprise for the campaign team because the objective of that phrase cannot be other than to become the headline of the day. So that? It is not only about highlighting the leader of the PP for his resistance to debate. To insist on this it is not necessary to have a comedian writing gags to the president.
The most revealing thing about that moment is the laughter that plays in the background.. Having their ministers and other PSOE officials present in Ferraz applauding on demand during the recording, just as the public does on the sets in exchange for a sandwich. The scene says a lot about what this campaign is serving internally, because basically what we are seeing is a bunch of subordinates laughing at a boss's bad jokes. The most important message is those obedient laughs. After all, the electoral advance was decided at a time when the president and general secretary of the PSOE feared an internal rebellion after the defeat of 28-M. The more ridiculous everything seems, the more serious is what it hides.