Love, Uninterrupted

What matters most these days, what will make history and what must be hurting all those political and media hacks to no end is... love! The love between a president and the people who chose him.

Mind you, Romanian people are not very used to expressing themselves. They are used to pretending to like the one they applaud. But now they genuinely like a political leader! It took a long time, but it is happening! Nobody asks them to get out in the streets, however, they will. Because for the first time in their Romanian lives, they can stand up and shout out their approval, and not be ashamed of it. This is really potent stuff, folks, and not many Europeans enjoy it. The simple act of rallying around a flag and a person with such shared glee is not a common occurrence on the Old Continent. They only get somewhat close to that with soccer.

To me, the most hair-rising moment in Romania's recent history just occurred on the day the President was suspended.

The President had just uttered his improvised speech in front of the crowd that had gathered at Piata Universitatii. They had been awkward in sustaining him, he had been awkward in talking to them. And then, the crowd started to shout, in the same funny and stubborn intonation they hit most often, that monotonous incantation on three syllables "Da-Da-Da!". It had been "Ba-ses-cu! Ba-ses-cu!". Well, this time it came out as: "Va iu-bim! Va iu-bim!" ("We love you! We love you!") Basescu was obviously moved, tears welled up in his eyes, he answered back, riding the moment, the way it's done in a couple: "Si eu va iubesc!" ("I love you too!")

Now, crowds don't shout "We love you" even in the States, where people are the most likely to profess their positive feelings "in your face". In Romania, people (especially men) wouldn't be caught dead saying "I love you" to their mothers, let alone to a political leader!

It's pretty hot. This also means that the hatred against the other guys has risen to some serious levels.

In his trademark dramatic silliness, Andrei Gheorghe was trying to capture these unprecedented heights of passion, but he simmered the entire phenomenon instead to some wacky, unfitted Russian-style potency when he said that Basescu didn't look like someone who was going to die peacefully in his bed. Can you picture a political analyst saying that on air about a president, in the civilized world? Nor could I.

I didn't think the list of media hacks included such names as Dragotescu, Alistar, Tanase. (I had already demoted Gheorghe.) Basically, the list of believable public figures boils down to those who show up tonight in Piata Constitutiei. Who knew that the President of Romania polarized so well...

Funny how everyone jumped to discuss the "five minutes" issue, as if that were the grand news item! The President of Romania had just been suspended in a manner that deserved ample comments, and everything hacks kept talking about was his change of mind. What a fine manipulation -- so gross it became astute.

There is no television to be trusted. Time for Radio Free Europe, again! Does that even exist anymore? Could someone please turn it into an el-cheapo TV channel, OTV style, as these audiences care nothing for frills?

J'accuse the rest of the world IF they didn't give Basescu enough credit. I blame the leaders who didn't hold out their hand, the counsellors who didn't do their homework right and didn't push meetings with this President on their agendas sooner, moving along to legitimize him ASAP.

Geoana, the black-hole-gazer, is out of this world. After a dignified "It would be no shame, really, if Basescu changed his mind and decided to not resign anymore", to a rabid "E un razgandac!" a few hours later, the man can say anything with impunity, or so he imagines. The press will not take notice. His inconsistency will not matter, he can revel in it, the time is now his and his party's. Again. Well, I have news for you, buddy -- the fact that you own the press has stopped being of the essence. Your people have tuned out. They know what you know. How scary is THAT?

Romania is finally taking charge of its fate.

This time the message goes from Liiceanu to the last peasant. This gang of leaders is finished, nobody wants them there and this time they went too far in challenging public opinion. Maybe people don't approve of Basescu 100%, but no one else even comes close to what he can do for this country.

Plus, he is extremely lovable. With all his drawbacks, or precisely because of them, he reaches out in all corners of Romania. Tariceanu, Geoana, Voiculescu, Orban, Antonescu cannot even dream that one day they would be applauded heartily. And if that's not happening, what else is there? Life sucks for these folks, no matter how much money they made or stole, how many hours they concocted their speeches, how many media heads and channels they bought. They will never be *loved* by the people they desperately want to lead.

Romania has become Romania 2.0 a few years sooner than the 20 years Brucan predicted it would take. Romanians are no longer easy to manipulate, and they LOVE their President!