Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489656
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 JANUARY 2023 OPINION 10 Raphael Vassallo OPINION 'The reasons will have to be found' IT might be a rather obscure movie-reference with which to start an article (even if the film's director – John Ford – remains one of the most influential, and widely-copied, movie-maker of all time). Nonetheless, his 1958 come- dy 'The Last Hurrah' (starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunt- er and John Carradine) has to go down as one of his less- er-known efforts. And that's a great pity, in my humble opin- ion: because there is a certain 'something' about this movie – though precisely what, I'm still not entirely sure – that vaguely reminds me of the atmosphere of Malta in the distant 1970s and 1980s (and to a lesser ex- tent, even today). Not in any direct sense, of course – the film is far too light-hearted for that – but mostly because the plot re- volves around a fictional elec- tion for the governorship of an unnamed 'New England City' (presumably, Boston); and as the campaign progresses, the two rival candidates resort to ever-more insidious and in- trusive methods, to somehow 'nudge ahead' in the electoral race. For instance: long-time Re- publican mayor Frank Skeff- ington (Tracy) manages to transform even a random neighbourhood funeral, into an impromptu 'campaign event'. Elsewhere, his Democrat rival Kevin McCluskey (allegedly modelled on a young John F. Kennedy) hires a film studio to concoct a 'personalised' televi- sion interview: in which every single aspect of his 'home' – all the way down to the family dog – is actually just a film-prop. What really nails the 'Malta connection', however, are the scenes in the counting hall, as the results start to (ve-e-ery slowly) trickle in. But you'll have to take my word for it, I'm afraid. Suffice it to say, for now, that anyone who remem- bers comparable scenes at the old counting hall at Ta' Qali – when it could take anywhere up to three whole days, to find out who actually won the elec- tion – will surely feel a little tingle in their nostalgia-bone. If I bring up 'The Last Hur- rah' today, however, it is largely thanks to a single scene featur- ing John Carradine (Fun fact: that's David Carradine's dad! Remember? Bill from 'Kill Bill'; and 'Kwai Chang Kane', from… erm, that old TV series about 'a guy who could never catch a grasshopper'…) Anyway: in 'The Last Hurrah', David's father plays newspaper editor Amos Forge; and in that capacity, he starts dictating his new editorial policy to a bewil- dered secretary: "On Sunday the Evening News will announce its support of Kevin McCluskey for may- or. We will say we believe he is the best-qualified of all the candidates opposing Skeffing- ton. The reasons why we be- lieve this, are… [long pause]… the reasons will have to be found…" See, what did I tell you? Right there, in those last few words alone, 'Kwai Chang Kane Sen- ior' has precisely outlined the very essence, of the entire mo- dus operandi that informs Mal- tese politics to this day (and even more so, back in the 1970s and 1980s). Not just because the underly- ing mindset is more or less in- distinguishable, from how Mal- tese political parties invariably tend to operate ("Reasons? Pah! Since when do we need 'rea- sons' to oppose things… when 'opposing things' automatically translates into benefits for our- selves; and disadvantages for our political rivals?") But because even people like Amos Forge clearly understand that – while 'opposition-for- its-own-sake' is a good enough reason, FOR THEM – it re- mains a somewhat unsatisfac- tory justification, in the eyes of the wider general public. So make no mistake: 'reasons will have to be found'. And this – in the movie, just as in real life – is where the fun usually begins. Take the ongoing controver- sy about the 'anti-deadlock mechanism', proposed for the appointment of the Standards Commissioner (a situation that has been vacant, by the way, since last September.) By now, I imagine you all know the score: the process of appointing a new Commission- er requires a two-thirds parlia- mentary majority [Hey, don't look at me! I was the one warn- ing you all, at the time, that this wasn't going to work]; and, as we have all seen with our own eyes… both government and opposition have proven unsuc- cessful, in their (ahem) 'efforts' to appoint a successor, over the past four whole months. Not only that: but there is also no end in sight to the current impasse… which also explains why Robert Abela is now open- ly attempting to just sabotage the entire system: by proposing an 'anti-deadlock mechanism', that – on closer scrutiny – sim- ply removes the two-thirds majority obligation altogeth- er (leaving us precisely where we all were before: i.e. with the supposedly 'autonomous' Standards Commissioner re- duced to a unilateral, and un- opposable, 'political appoint- ment'…) And yes: that would defeat the entire purpose of even hav- ing such a Standards Commis- sioner in the first place. But then, we also have to examine the precise circumstances that led us to this ridiculous pass. Now: just to be clear, I'm the first to agree with the wide-