I chuckle to hear that Dr. Brown wishes to hire a costly international PR firm to counter the negative vibes that cling to his administration. It shows that he cares more about the opinion of outsiders than of his fellow Bermudians.
Some readers complain that I have nothing nice to say about Dr. Brown. That’s not true. I think he’s the best promoter that Bermuda has ever produced. I also think that hunger and self-righteousness makes him a very complicated democratic leader.
For those who wonder about Bermuda’s style over substance, I suggest a book called Alpha Dogs about how America’s political spin doctors have gone international:
In 1978 the mayor of Boston, Kevin White, was told some uncomfortable truths by his pollsters. The people of Boston did not like him. “They view you as an aloof, arrogant, son-of-a-bitch bastard.”
The mayor’s pollsters realised they could not stop people from thinking he was an arrogant bully. So they tried to persuade the voters that he was the man who gets things done. “Knowing which arms to twist and hands to hold: that’s what it takes to be mayor,” went one slogan.
The premise of the book is that the resulting political culture of spin has turned off ordinary people in droves: they know they cannot trust the words of politicians.
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