Politics is representation, but it can often be devoured by the excesses of theatrics. We have recent examples of this: Jaume Collboni leaves the government of Barcelona a few months before the municipal elections, with the contradiction that means that his co-religionists continue with the institutional responsibilities acquired thanks to the pacts with Mayor Colau.
On the other hand, Alberto Núñez Feijóo launches the proposal that the most voted list govern from the solemn setting of the 1812 Constitution, an idea that from his own party is immediately questioned.
And we can also include in this list of functions of quality that could be improved the endless negotiation of the budgets between the PSC and ERC, an incomprehensible vaudeville that has turned a side issue into the central reason for the discussion. And the question is forced: is all this puppet useful?
We start from the premise that politics is a competition that places perceptions first. What is perceived has a dynamic, flexible, elusive and problematic relationship with the real. However, political actors and those who design their strategies work on this world of appearances, since it is in this ring where the fight for power takes place in a democratic society.
The real tends to place politicians in uncomfortable territory. For example: the reality of Collboni is that he has governed together with the commons and, therefore, his credibility when criticizing Colau's policies is very limited, technically speaking.
Another example: Núñez Feijóo has a problem with Vox and the pacts that the ultras have made and hope to make with the PP, for this reason he creates a smokescreen with a bizarre occurrence that, as anyone knows, is not acceptable in a parliamentary system. .
And one more: everyone can see that the tug of war between socialists and republicans for the regional accounts is produced more by the continent than by the content of what is at stake, that is, the image of each formation at the time to be able to explain the eventual agreement they reach (if not, in the end, with so much gesticulation, everything goes to waste).
The most important thing is to generate a cloud of dust that hides, softens and displaces what is real from the citizen's view. Is the target size achieved? Will Collboni manage to improve his electoral expectations through this pirouette that tries to make us forget the most obvious? Will Núñez Feijóo manage to create a layer of solvent leader thanks to pseudo-ideas that have a short run, useful only to hide other controversies? Will President Aragonès and Salvador Illa manage to make us forget that the stagnation in their negotiation is due, mainly, to a risky tactical game in which appearing in a certain way before the respective electorates has prevailed? It depends.
Experience shows that there are theaters that work better than others. And also that there are times when a political option finds a very well paid field for this type of operation to have a prize at the polls.
Where is the fine line that separates reasonable representation from the most stark simulation? Borja Sémper, in the recent role of spokesman for the PP, is seen and desired fighting with the impact of the speeches that his boss's team concocts. He has said that the most voted list "has edges." There is no doubt that the Basque politician has put his elegance at the service of the impossible.
