Portia Simpson Miller is a Jamaican success story; an iconic figure who has become a metaphor for the hopes and aspirations of poor, marginalised, despised, oppressed black people, particularly black women.FOR THOSE who felt that charismatic leadership had exhausted its potential in the Caribbean, and that a new technocratic paradigm had taken root, last Saturday's victory by Portia Simpson Miller should be a telling rejoinder.
For years I have been writing about the power of inspiring leadership; the force of emotional intelligence, the pull of non-cognitive factors such as empathy, warmth, hope, solidarity and trust. The affective usually trumps the cognitive.
Not since the Reggae Boyz victory leading into the World Cup have I experienced the level of euphoria, spontaneous outburst of frenzied animation and wild excitement as I did on Saturday and into Sunday. The reports swapped among friends are similar: Jamaicans of all ages, classes, gender, religious backgrounds and political affiliation including Labourites, rejoiced at the ascension to the highest office in the land of the authentically working class woman, who had struggled valiantly against enormous odds to achieve her dream.
JAMAICAN SUCCESS STORY
Portia Simpson Miller is a Jamaican success story; an iconic figure who has become a metaphor for the hopes and aspirations of poor, marginalised, despised, oppressed black people, particularly black women. So many ordinary Jamaicans saw themselves in that triumphant black woman on Saturday evening.
All across this country last Saturday hope was lit, resurrecting the sagging spirits of Jamaicans who had become weary and disillusioned with a largely uninspiring and divisive politics.
KD Knight miscalculated perilously and grievously, and in the end it badly hurt the Peter Phillips campaign, in effect dashing Peter against his own rock.
DISRESPECTFUL REMARKS
It was not that the issue of
capacity or intellectual competence is irrelevant and illegitimate. Far from it. But in mass politics
rational discourse will never take precedence over emotions. Knight's remarks were widely interpreted as being grossly disrespectful, contemptuous and snobbish and once that interpretation stuck, there was no way to unglue it.
For the vast majority of the
delegates who are poor and underemployed (my information suggests up to 60 per cent are unemployed), Knight's remarks cast a dark shadow over the Phillips campaign and the revulsion translated into support for Portia Simpson Miller.
Besides and this is not to be downplayed Portia's gracious, gentle and conciliatory public response, or non-response, to the Knight's remarks endeared people to her in this Christian culture. She turned the other cheek, often with a smile and went further, to speak well of her colleagues.
She also used the underdog, victim image brilliantly to her advantage, which clinched the support of many for her. Again a remarkable display of emotional intelligence. (Her Pentecostal religious fervour did not hurt either).
As the pre-eminent scholar on emotional intelligence, the
former Harvard Professor Daniel Goleman says in a classic Harvard Business Review article (November-December 1998): "My research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that the emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership.
Without it a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive analytical mind and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won't make a great leader."
But, as much as Knight's comments hurt the Phillips campaign and not only among delegates, but primarily in the wider Jamaica we should resist the naïve conclusion that that was what cost Phillips the presidency of the PNP and the prime ministership of the country.
QUEEN ESTHER
As I wrote in my column of August 7, 2004 ('Portia, Peter and the PNP') "There are a
number of reasons for the Portia appeal. Portia is seen as a caring, compassionate, feeling, empathetic and honest person.She is perceived as a person who puts the interest of the poor and 'truth and rights' above party interests. Portia comes across as sincere, well-meaning passionate and, importantly, humble. Her gender is also an important factor in the support for her."
Portia is seen by the largely unemployed delegates as the one who can make things happen for them; the one who can free up things so that 'dollars can run' and employment can be created. They are tired of the band-your-belly, straightjacket policies of Omar Davies and neo-liberalism, and they see Portia as their Queen Esther saving their political
kingdom.
FIFTH TERM
Which brings us to the other critical issue. The delegates who voted for her did so too because they feel that she is the most capable to give the party a fifth term. The delegates are practical people.
They know what the polls say. They talk to people, including Labourites, and they know the love which exists in the society for Portia. They know that in the best of times it is hard for a party which has been voted in for four consecutive terms to get a fifth term. And these are by no means the best of times.
They see Portia as their saviour. With crime still unacceptably high and with many people feeling the economic pinch, they felt it would be all too easy for the Jamaica Labour Party to ride the crest of those dissatisfactions to a victory.
The view that Portia did not have capacity ? which was the major polemic against her?was apparently seen by the delegates as the least of the problems they would face in a toss up with the JLP. Now that they see how people have reacted angrily to what is seen as a put-down and an insult to her, they probably reason that the JLP would face a similar reaction if they dared raise that issue in a general election with Portia as head of the PNP.
Mysterious charisma
Apart from being pragmatic, people simply love Portia. There is something about her. It?s called charisma ? that mysterious, perhaps indefinable quality that is hard to quantify but impossible to miss when you experience it.
Says Goleman again in that Harvard Business Review article titled, 'What Makes a Good Leader?' : ?Of all the dimensions of emotional intelligence, empathy is the most easily recognised?. People feel that Portia cares. That she understands. You can't underestimate the power of that.
You can't put a value on it. And in our context where there is such a high degree of cynicism about our politicians, where so many believe politicians are corrupt, selfish and uncaring, Portia?s perceived empathy has incalculable cache and power to motivate. Intellectual competence and technocratic expertise per se cannot be compared to it.
Portia Simpson Miller also skilfully used her working class status and gender to her advantage.
It?s really a classic success story: A person using her lemons to make lemonade and turning her disadvantage into an advantage.
An article in the December, 2005, issue of Harvard Business Review titled "Authentic leaders use their personal histories to establish common ground with their followers. We think it is fair to say that no leader will ever succeed in establishing his authenticity unless he can effectively manage his relationship with his past and his followers connections to their roots?.
Remember that there has been a fundamental shift in the class composition of the delegates. As the middle class has largely abandoned party politics, leaving it to the working class and urban poor, these persons gravitate to a populist leader. In 1969 and 1992 when there were presidential elections in the PNP, delegates included presidents and executives of important civil society groups or farmers, teachers groups and other representative groups.
These persons would have been more likely to vote with the PNP elite or those Wilmot Perkins calls 'the Drumblair aristocracy'. This change in the class composition of the delegates, to not only predominantly workers, but unemployed and underemployed persons had a decisive impact on the election of a working class woman to the presidency of a party in which impressive academic credentials were thought absolutely necessary for its presidency.
The working class and the dispossessed have voted for one of their own members to govern.
They feel the time has come for them to govern themselves directly and not through any 'vanguard', as Lenin advocated, believing that the working class could not graduate beyond 'trade union consciousness'. The working class said last Saturday, ?We (and Sister P) have come of age; thanks for your credentials and service, but we have found one of our own to lead us.? It is a seismic revolution in the PNP.
Galvanising the uncommitted
Bruce Golding is putting on a brave face, but the thing he feared most has come upon him. With Peter or Omar he could pick his choice between the two major areas of disenchantment by the Jamaican public, crime or the economy. It would have been much smoother sailing for him, though he would have to contend with two substantial Ph.Ds. But that doesn't count for much in raw politics.
The biggest nightmare for Bruce is Portia?s power to galvanise the uncommitted voters ? a sizeable constituency. The swing voters are those who decide elections and this is precisely the category which Portia has the power to ignite. She has the power to generate hope in the uncommitted, to win their hearts and minds. To make them believe she can make a difference, that it won?t be same-old, same-old. To make them believe It?s not the same old PNP.
The PNP faces the real prospect of a fifth term ? if Portia calls the election in a few months. She can't wait too long: Euphoria is ephemeral.
Remember, as Rex Nettleford always reminds us, Palm Sunday (with Jesus? triumphal entry into Jerusalem) is followed by the crucifixion on Good Friday (according to Christian tradition). Timing will be critical to Portia.
There is little policy space to accommodate the gargantuan expectations which people have. They won?t be in any mood for rational explanations. The man whom they associate with the best arguments for the economic model ? despite considerable spending ? polled a crushing and humiliating 200-odd votes. That speaks volumes.
Portia has been the darling of the media and that has been a major factor in her success. The media practitioners themselves have been mesmerised. Even Wilmot Perkins sold her, mainly because of his antipathy toward the PNP establishment with which, importantly, Portia is not identified in public perception. Dawn Ritch and Lloyd B. Smith have been pussycats.
The honeymoon will not be long, though. Portia has to strike the iron when it?s hot and before the cheering dies down.
Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist. Email him at ianboyne1@yahoo.com
