The editorial in Diario Libre today, Thursday 20 March highlights President Danilo Medina’s popularity and his very low rejection rate. It makes the point that Medina is seen as a reasonable, discreet and dedicated politician.
Ines Aizpun writes that Medina is willing, listens, hears, and solves problems for previously ignored groups. “The man ‘without charisma’ the quiet man, has spectacular popularity rates,” she writes.
But she observes that there is another Danilo, and describes him as “complex.” This is the Danilo who organized the party while Leonel was President, the one who created the political machinery that took the PLD to power and keeps it there today. She says that Danilo is cold, patient and a strategist. “If he were not, he wouldn’t have controlled the party and be President today,” she comments.
But she observes that there are substantial matters that can’t be improved with goodwill alone. The first thing, according to Aizpun, is political patronage, which she describes as an obstacle to development. “Those payrolls of party faithful who exclude valuable professionals from the workforce to fill government with people sent by the politicians at a high price we all pay.” Second, she advocates for tackling corruption with sincerity, not to bluff and then tolerate. “More is achieved with equity, institutionalism and judicial security than giving small loans in remote communities” she writes.
“He can do it, as Leonel could have done in his day. With everything in his favor, Danilo cannot run the risk that what he does not do will continue to kidnap the country’s future,” she writes.