Post by Eddie: Simon, James or Frank?

Although in recent times Simon Busuttil has taken on the bad boy stance of James Dean in “Rebels without a cause”, his moderate facial make up fails him and this coupled with his antics, tends to remind you of that wimpish and endearing, but most times infuriating character – Frank Spencer of “Some mothers do ‘ave them”

Played by Michael Crawford, of “Phantom of the Opera” Rock Opera fame, Crawford will always be remembered as Frank, that comically chaotic and confused looking character, so very popular in the 1970s, who while he acknowledged some misfortune he had caused due to his antics with “Oooh …”, usually uttered with his forefinger to his mouth as he stands amidst the debris from which he invariably extricates himself unscathed, he also sometimes complains that it happened because he was being “harassed!”

Somehow Simon’s tough stance to ignore while being ‘harassed’ by One journalists while sporting an expression of aloofness and disdain as he seeks a friendly face among other journalists reminds you more of Frank’s childish behaviour than that of bad boy James.

The first signs of Simon’s character change, a failed attempt to re-invent himself, emerged during his time as deputy leader of the PN, when he chose to drive a deep wedge among the Maltese electorate with his infamous poster, in which he painted the faces of Muscat and Gonzi in tribal red and blue during the 2013 PN election campaign. With this and other blunders, he orchestrated the PN’s worst loss ever, and as the first cracks started to appear in his new persona, he extricated himself from that situation by denying that he had anything to do with his party’s strategy in the run up to the 2013 election. Less James Deanish and more Frank Spencerish, if I may say so.

For this and many other shortcomings, he was described by a local well read newspaper as follows: “Busuttil failed to impress in the campaign… Busuttil was a stumbling, fumbling and arrogant incompetent Deputy leader.”

And while Simon tries to deflect this sad truth and other shortcomings that highlight his timeline as PN leader with his stubborn insistence to cling on to the tough and aggressive alpha male image, he forgets that what had made him popular with the electorate as a younger man, was that he was regarded as a moderate person during his stint at the Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC). Of course, the fact that he failed to secure the best deal for Malta, goes to show that in typical Frank fashion he was way out of his depth but endearing just the same.

The current mantra of denying responsibility for anything he and his party does, culminated with his weak explanation that the financial crisis that the PN finds itself in, a chaotic and disastrous situation with over € 20,000,000 debt, is simply “a bit of trouble”.

And as with Frank whose attempt at damage control and repairs often resulted in more and more chaos, the Cedoli scheme will undoubtedly have the same damaging effect on a Nationalist Party that is on the verge of bankruptcy.

And yet while Frank despite his unfailing ability to infuriate people, was essentially a very sympathetic character, who inspired affection from his ever-loving and patient wife, Betty and mostly from his viewers, Simon has done exactly the opposite in his attempt to recraft his image into that of an alpha male, by “putting his foot in it” again and again with a vengeance.

As Brexit has shown, extremism by far right parties is on the rise and this country needs level headed politicians rather than foot stamping primadonnas, so a return to dear MIC Simon and some constructive opposition is advised