Breezeblog

Some comments from today’s papers:

“It is convenient to maintain the fiction that public life in Bermuda is a battle between black and white, good and evil, especially when that division guarantees you a substantial electoral majority. But it perpetuates racial stereotypes, exacerbates racial divisions, and allows the PLP Government to dismiss any and all criticism on the pretext that it is racially based.It is, furthermore, fundamentally dangerous to democracy to have a Government that believes itself inherently superior and inherently right, and its critics inherently wrong. That is the surest way of justifying any number of lies and abuses, or failure to respond to questions of any kind – and in this election campaign, this is exactly what the PLP was doing.”

Tom Vesey, Bermuda Sun

 “The prime task now facing the election victor is healing the community psyche from the bruising it has taken during this election. The PLP must now resist all temptation to humiliate, ridicule or otherwise behave in an uncivil fashion toward UBP leaders and supporters. Furthermore, PLP leaders must now make significant healing gestures, across racial and party lines. These cannot be mere lip service; neither can they be superficial nor just for the moment.”

Stuart Hayward, Bermuda Sun

 “To some extent, this result also seems to vindicate the PLP’s approach to this political campaign, which will be remembered as the nastiest in living memory. And it cannot be disputed that the Island is as divided as ever. That’s too bad on both counts, because now, more than ever, Bermuda needs a leader who can unite the Country. It is not at all clear that that man is Dr. Brown, in spite of his call for the healing to begin after the election.

Editorial, The Royal Gazette

 “It is apparent that there was nothing that the UBP as a party could have done, said or promised in this campaign which would have created a national move toward them. They ran a good clean campaign focused on the issues. But this election had nothing to do with policy, nothing to do with debate. It has sent a clear message that party affiliation reigns supreme and that Government reform, openness and accountability is not an issue for a portion of the electorate.”

Christian Dunleavy, The Royal Gazette

 “Going forward, until the next election, the biggest issue is whether or not the PLP will have the political smarts as well as the national maturity to serve both of its two masters. The first master? The PLP’s band of supporters who returned it to power. The second master? Bermuda’s increasingly complex socio-economic mechanism that is so delicately balanced on an ever-tightening high-wire of global competition and that is still growing and still silently and invisibly creating greater social pressures; and is the real Bermuda in which all Bermudians and non-Bermudian workers must live and work.

Larry Burchall, Bermuda Sun