The JLP has been deflated and the wind has been knocked out of there sails, leaving Andrew Holness to ponder ” How on earth do I defeat these guys at their own game”. I say to Andrew, you are no match for a the master of the game and until he leaves political life, you will have a warm time matching the strides of the PNP, no matter how much they stumble.
Had Phillip Paulwell been in the JLP, the leader and fellow labourites , would have thrown him under the bus and made him the sacrificial lamb as they seek to find favour with the private sector, civil society groups and the general public.
Had Paulwell been in the JLP, our sources would have been telling us every juicy details of the deliberation and what was going to happen to him before it happened. The various groups would come out swinging, telling the party leader if he was not relieved of his job, what they would have done.
Andrew Holness and the JLP witnessed in the house yesterday the moves of a Kasparov ( considered to be the worlds greatest ever chess player) and by the time they saw the move it was ” chessmate” game over.
Andrew Holness must have now recognized that his style of politics will keep him and the JLP in opposition for a very long time. He must recognize that the voting masses like to hear that you care about the poor and everything you do is for the poor. We want to hear announcement of thousands of jobs even if it is not true. We want to hear free money is going to run to ease the burden and that the JLP will find ways to throw free money out there to benefits both its supporters as well as those on the otherside.
This far from be the right way to do things, but if your competitor does what they do and get ahead , chances are you may have to do the same in order to get better results.
Andrew Holness by now would have learnt that politics is not about who have the best ideas and/or the best plans, its all about who attains power as without that, the “best laid” plans would go to waste or become the ones those who actually got there ( in power) ahead of you, seek to implement, which further weakens your position.
JLP corner looks dark at this stage given what is a start of the road to 2016.
Warren's Blog 
To make unrealistic promises and appear to be concern for the poor are all it takes to fool the masses and elections then we as a people have no one blame for our current predicament.
I thought that by now the electorate would’ve been more savvy about governance and be more in tuned to substance over style. If this latest move by the PNP to recycle failed party people into forefront just to win the next elections I will no longer care about nation building. And if the opportunity comes for me to leave I will not hesitate.
Someone mentioned to me how Kern Spencer became very popular in his Constituency. Apparently, he would go into certain communities and leave X dollars at various bars and people could “drink’ until their heart’s content. This type of gesture made him very popular MP, almost unbeatable. If Kern wants that seat back, he can retake it and will win easily.
On the other hand, another capable PNP Caretaker was known to simply drive through various communities in his Constituency, without stopping and engaging the masses. The PNP voters believe he thought himself to be better than them. He was eventually replaced and kicked to the side.
Jay, I think you give the PNP too much credit for the abilities. Again, it is not that the people love the PNP, it is that they despise the JLP. The JLP does not understand how small things go a far way in the minds of voters. The other issue is the face that Jamaicans see as representative of the JLP. The Private sector group was shown on the front page issuing ultimatums regarding the sacking of Paulwell. Those images are a black eye to the JLP, as it shows the Jamaican people that a group of unelected individuals doing the bidding of the JLP (their perceptions). Those individuals do not look anything like the average Jamaicans, hence the push-back as to who elect them to speak on behalf of Jamaicans. Essentially, it is not that the PNP is doing a great job of winning elections as it is the JLP finding infinite ways to lose.
We may disagree on a lot of things, but I certainly can agree with most of what you have written here.
What is interesting is the same faces you spoke about are the ones funding the election campaign of both parties. They own most of the business in Jamaica and employ quite a bit of persons.
Yes, the JLP needs a make over from being seen as brown man party.
Now answer this ” given that JLP is seen as a brown man party hence the apparent disassociation with the masses , why are so many ” downtowners” bleaching ?
Jamaicans are too small minded, I don’t care if the jlp is a brown man party or a white man party, only its policies interest me. Jamaica is not going anywhere because too many people don’t focus on the issues, we are too interested in personalities. We need to spend more time discussing inefficiencies in the public sector, especially at agencies like the AIC and ensure that anyone who is interested in running for office has a policy to solve these problems. Untile we reject sensational politics, we will not go anywhere
Concur wholeheartedly. While we are rejecting the supposedly ‘brown man’ party we joined long lines at the embassy to try to migrate to the white man’s country. What a paradox!
Holness was on Direct on CVM, The man shock me when he said he is using the Budget debate for campaigning to get back political power.
He is now on the campaign trail and his goal is to get back state power. So issues are not at the forefront now
And you think the PNP is not doing the same? The PNP has gone for the old firm of Patterson/Lawrence/Stewart to chart their next electoral victory.