“I renounce therefore I am.”
Anonymous
Between the options Jürgen Klopp or Xavi Hernández, between leaving or staying, Pedro Sánchez chose Xavi. On a personal level it disappoints me. It dwarfs your figure. But as a citizen I appreciate it. If the right were to govern again in Spain, Catalonia would once again be a madhouse, like Barça.
Klopp announced that he was leaving his position as Liverpool manager and there is no doubt that he will be true to his word. Xavi announced that he was leaving his position as Barça coach and changed his plan. Sánchez did not exactly announce it, but it gave the impression that he was leaving his position as president of the Spanish Government, and he stayed.
I reconfirm my opinion that Klopp is great and that the other two are not. The fact is that, beyond the fact that the German exudes charisma like few others in any field, the act of resignation contains greatness in itself.
Executed from a position of strength, it is a poetic gesture. I also think of Éric Cantona, who abandoned football when he was still at the top as a player. Next to Cantona, all his contemporaries are dwarfs. But, since I'm talking about poetry, I will expand on literature, one of Shakespeare's great characters, General Coriolanus.
Some dastardly Roman politicians mount a campaign of harassment against him, a man who values his honor above all else. Coriolanus leaves Rome but not before looking back when he leaves through the city gates and stating that the Romans have not exiled him. On the contrary. “I banish you!” he declares. “I banish you!”
The phrase moves me. In its contempt for moral pettiness it is an eternal cry for human dignity. Remember Don Quixote when he says, “Sancho, let the dogs bark, it is a sign that we are riding.”
I don't know what the mental processes were that led Pedro Sánchez to decide, after his five days of reflection, to remain as head of government. Maybe it was all “a little theater”, as some say, although I doubt it. Perhaps – more likely, I think – his PSOE co-religionists reminded him that out of loyalty and responsibility he could not abandon them or the country.
Well, not all: there is Felipe González, with the possible exception of Vicente del Bosque, the most brilliant leader of Spain since democracy, reduced today to a caricature of that classic, an old comedian incapable of accepting that his time on stage is over. passed.
What I'm getting at (forgive the unnecessary but irresistible Felipista digression) is that I think Sánchez missed an opportunity. If he had gone, the echo of his gesture would have gone around the world. Maybe not the best for Spain or Catalonia (although who knows) but without a doubt a shame for humanity.
Sánchez would have been recognized today and always remembered as a figure who disdained the garbage that politics in the Western world increasingly becomes.
It could have reminded those who consider it normal to wallow in the mud, like Trump, who will do any trick to obtain or maintain power. It could have redirected, at least a little, the course of history.
But not. Instead of generating applause, the world's reaction to Sánchez's decision will be a general shrug of the shoulders. Oh, of course, another politician. Business as usual. Let's turn the page. After a few days in which Spain attracted unusual global media attention, we return to the default mode, indifference to what happens in these payments. In politics, I say.
The irony is that, after this entertaining episode at Moncloa, there is and will continue to be much more interesting outside of Spain (and perhaps within) the fate of Barça and even that of Xavi Hernández, a character known by ten times more human beings than Pedro Sánchez. .
I use the word “irony” because the resolution of the Sánchez dilemma has, or had, many more consequences for the well-being of the planet than whether or not next season Xavi manages to convert the youth talent he has at his disposal into titles.
But here we are. Football and politics return to their proper places and we can return to the interrupted question: why did Xavi decide to stay in the end? No idea of the answer, but I imagine it contains a lot more prose than poetry.
