The Gleaner's front-page headline on June 8 screamed "PORTIA'S PLUNGE: Approval rating for PM declines; JLP leader gains slightly".
This was the commentary on a Bill Johnson poll which showed that two thirds of the country (64 per cent) supports Mrs. Simpson Miller as Prime Minister while Bruce Golding's approval rating had declined from 35 per cent to 31 per cent.
The only improvement for Bruce was that his flat-out negative rating has declined from 50 per cent to 42 per cent (All figures are March 2006 to May 2006).
This is apparently what The Gleaner regards as his 'gaining slightly'. Because it cannot be the fact that the popularity of the Jamaica Labour Party has also declined from 33 per cent to 28 per cent, while the People's National Party's approval rating remains at 47 per cent.
STILL UNUSURE
Is it that The Gleaner hopes that this flash of light in the slight reduction of Bruce's negative rating will ripen into a steady morn? This is unlikely.
His personal rating is also down four per cent at the same time. Moreover, more people are still unsure of him than they are of Mrs. Simpson Miller. How this can translate into him gaining slightly is not only beyond me, but well outside the numbers presented.
Mrs. Simpson Miller has fallen from an approval rating of 78 per cent in March, to 64 per cent in May.
She was elected on February 25. Bruce didn't even get a bounce when he was elected last year. I bet he wishes that he had as far to fall as she.
It is much easier to fall than it is to gain, something that Bruce has faced over and over again for a very long time, yet is still unable to accept. He should pack it in, and give it to anybody else in the JLP who has even the slightest chance of beating her in a general election.
Dr. Peter Phillips, who complained to this newspaper about disunity in the PNP, should pack it in too. The reason there was no disunity in the PNP in 1992 when Portia lost to P.J. was because the former kept herself quiet afterwards.
Not a murmur was heard from her, not when her supporters were sidelined, and not when she was either.
Now that Dr. Phillips has lost to Mrs. Simpson Miller, all of a sudden there is disunity in the party because of 'vindictiveness'.
The former told The Gleaner in an exclusive interview that "party leaders intervened to protect constituency organisations and indicate in a manner that would convince those who would have been so minded that it was a futile exercise."
In 1992, none of Mrs. Simpson Miller supporters had previously announced they were leaving representational politics and then suddenly changed their minds as soon as P.J. won.
Nor after the 1992 contest was there an immediate and huge flock of contenders for every constituency seat and every council division across the length and breadth of the island.
Since the 2006 contest, however, both these things have taken place in spades.
The inescapable conclusion is, therefore, that all those vying for positions in the PNP are vying for positions to run on Mrs. Simpson Miller's ticket. Indeed, many were coming out of the party, until her ascendancy had given the PNP and, by extension, themselves, a new hope.
It should also be noted that some on Dr. Phillips own losing presidential ticket announced that they weren't going to run in the next general election. Now they want their seats, and are apparently annoyed that many other comrades want them too.
Instead of being a dog in the manger about it, both losers, Dr. Phillips and Dr. Omar Davies, should realise that their only chance of being a minister in the next Cabinet is if Mrs. Simpson Miller wins the general election.
Neither of them is prime ministerial, neither of them has a hope of beating Bruce even though he has constantly failed to impress anyone except a self-interested minority, that he is in any way prime ministerial material himself.
Instead, Dr. Phillips has embarked upon abnormal behaviour for a comrade, and bawling to the press.
As far as I am concerned, if Dr. Phillips and Dr. Davies were to lose their seats in the next general election, it would be no bad thing.
WAY THE WIND BLOWS
Since the delegates of the PNP have so far been selecting more Portia people than either of Peter or Omar's supporters to represent them, it ought to be clear enough which way the wind is blowing.
Both losing candidates should, therefore, just park themselves as she did in 1992, and enjoy the breeze. Instead, Phillips is whining to the press which she did not, and has never done.
The news report also stated that Dr. Phillips "praised the decision of Mrs. Simpson Miller to appoint Dr. Paul Robertson, who was a key member of his presidential campaign, to chair a monitoring committee overseeing the candidate selection process now taking place."
This he did in an interview warning against party disunity and victimisation. It proves the truth of what Jonathan Swift once wrote, namely that "... critics are like dogs at a feast, apt to snarl most when the bones are least."
Dr. Phillips and Dr. Davies must try not to allow themselves therefore to be overwhelmed by mourning their defeat, nor wallow in self-pity. All that has happened is that the people mainly winning the PNP selections are young, and not for them.
This bodes well for the PNP. Young people entering, who have broken with the past, is the only way the party can hope to renew itself.
Even now, Mrs. Simpson Miller must be planning her own succession in the party. When she leaves, it cannot be that old re-treads succeed her, people who have never caused a single palpitation in public polling since the practice began.
She's not the kind of person to interfere with the wishes of the PNP delegates. Nevertheless, the numbers of young people now coming forward to represent the party must be deeply and personally gratifying.
In the end, all she really needs are candidates who will serve the needs of the people, win the seat or the division, and who are clean. On that basis, she must still be enjoying the job and having the time of her life.
With the exception of Dr. Phillips, the PNP does not talk about their business in public. But internal party politics is still as treacherous as a nest of vipers.
Paul Robertson has graciously accepted to take the sting, so that Portia can build a team and the country have hope of real successors waiting in the wings.
