Foreign policy is more welcome and less boring than the unwanted effects of the squabbles of internal debates. Pedro Sánchez is a champion of resilience, weathering the storms with the skill of César in the Gallic War. His presence in the international arena is an unquestionable success. This year he has traveled by night train to see Zelenski in Kyiv, he has been invited to visit Xi Jinping in Beijing and now he will open the municipal and regional campaign with a photo with Joe Biden at the White House on May 12 .
He is a valued character in international summits, speaks fluent English and has played the Atlanticist card, despite the fact that his partners in the Government speak and demonstrate against decisions of the Council of Ministers adopted by themselves and themselves. Governing with a broken government has its merits, but it is dangerous if the hostilities that do the most damage come precisely from the Executive.
Sánchez has no friends or enemies but, remembering Lord Palmerston's phrase, referring to England, he only moves for his personal political interests. He is lucky that the balls that stop at the edge of the net land on his side. Napoleon asked if the generals he was going to name were lucky. But luck, as it proved, was not enough to win the decisive battle, that of Waterloo, against Wellington.
A wrong foreign policy subtracts electorally, but brilliant international management does not always translate into optimal results. This is how I heard it from President Bush Sr., when he ran for re-election in 1992 after winning the Kuwait war and defeating the USSR in the long cold war. He lost to an unknown Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas, who said that "it's the economy, stupid." The factor of the third candidate, Ross Perot, had an unexpected incidence.
Elections are won, above all, if the perception is positive for that broad sector of the electorate that swings from the center left to the center right days before going to the polls. Overreacting, even reasoned, can be counterproductive if interpreted as unnecessary propaganda. The fragmentation of Podemos could not add but subtract. It should not be ruled out that it dispenses with them after May 28. It would drop ballast.
