So whether the reference is to the feistiness that was the hallmark of the late Sir Cecil Vincent Wallace-Whitfield or to that of the cerebrally cold will of the late Sir Kendal G. L. Isaacs, or to that of any other leader, the FNM had up to that time, been seen as a party that could be beaten by the Progressive Liberal Party.
Today, things have apparently changed – with the PLP firmly held in the grip of forces that seemingly favor the Free National Movement.
But no matter how you cut it, things are threatening to push the Free National Movement to that point where it knows that it must fight if it is to prevail over its PLP counterparts.
Interestingly, today’s Free National Movement still has in Hubert A. Ingraham a man who relishes a good fight and who is clearly one of the men in Bahamian politics who can be described as being a maximum leader.
It is in this crucial sense that today’s Hubert Ingraham seems to have left in him one next big fight. Today that fight is joined as Mr. Ingraham’s party meets in Convention.
Last evening’s opening of the Free National Movement’s Convention was for many a sight for sore eyes, presenting as it did a tableau of a party seemingly intent on putting its best face forward.
We need only reference the finesse with which that party removed one man as Chairman, and thereafter produced another who seems ready, able and willing to chair that organization as it prepares itself for general elections that must he held in the next two years.
Carl Bethel is now the Chairman of the party, thus replacing the always affable Johnley Ferguson.
Evidently, this move is in and of itself indicative of a particular and peculiar mindset, one that has no patience with griping and conniving – but with doing what has to be done; as circumstances permit.
And so, having been able to best its rivals in the Progressive Liberal Party for three of the last four times at the polls, it is to be expected that the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham and his high command are gearing up to do whatever is necessary in order for them to hold on to the reins of power in the Bahamas.
Evidently, a hungry Progressive Liberal Party – and one that is simply tired of life in the wilderness – is set on doing everything permissible under law to defeat their nemeses in the Free National Movement.
With this in mind, then, we underscore the point that both parties in convention should be expected to put their best face forward for the scrutiny of the electorate.
With this as context and background, even as the Free National Movement meets in Convention, its leaders and follows find themselves in somewhat of a quandary.
At the core of this puzzle is a world economic crisis that compels them to search for solutions that are sufficient to not only keep this nation’s economy afloat, but which would also help them in their quest to retain office.
While the current administration has done a fairly good job in keeping a lid on some of this nation’s larger challenges, a hardy and determined criminal element yet threatens to mess things up for their hard-working fellow-Bahamians.
As events of the past weekend prove, things can go awry in a split second. This explains why the current administration has seemingly sought to downplay this current convention.
In addition, it is quite clear that the Free National Movement’s key strategists are set on putting on an event that comes across as being well-thought out, professional and in keeping with the tempo of the times, sufficiently modest.
More so than any other single factor, we surmise that the governing Free National Movement wants to move forward bathed in an aura that says that their leadership is large and in charge.
In this regard, they would apparently wish to strike a pose that is in sharp contrast to the one projected by their nemeses in the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party.
The attentive public would be watching to see how a triumphant Hubert Ingraham harnesses the energy that is his to command as his party prepares itself for the next two years of this term.
- Austin DWI - New York DWI