DURING electioneering hustings, leaders of political parties trade barbs and accusations in order to sway the electorate, but when the dust settles after the elections there is need for grace in defeat and political maturity for the country to move forward.A good example of this was during the November 2012 elections in the United States of America. In that elections, the incumbent Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney with 50.3 percent of the popular vote and a surprising 303 electoral votes. Following are a few of the multiplicity of reasons analysts proffer for Romney’s defeat.

“The hundreds of millions of billionaires’ money didn’t work. The politics of division didn’t work. The Tea Party revolution of 2010 failed. Unlimited dark money doesn’t necessarily buy votes…and lying doesn’t work.”

The most shocking strategy of the Romney campaign was a conscious decision made by the candidate that winning was more important than truth. He freely lied about the president, the economy, welfare reform, the auto bailout, major companies, history, and even Americans themselves. He flipped on every single social issue that he had advocated as Governor of Massachusetts and stridently concealed his own tax records. Almost without exception, he doubled down on his lies and shifting positions when publicly called out. In the end, he badly damaged his reputation by the freeform lying, reducing confidence in his candidacy. Many other Republicans followed suit.
“Pandering to an immoral base doesn’t work in a general election,” one analyst said.
Does any of the foregoing ring a bell in the context of the political landscape in Guyana?
In the wake of Romney’s defeat did any of Romney’s supporters burn tyres and other debris to impede commuters on the public highways? Did they set public infrastructure afire or destroy them by any other means? Did they attack, rob, beat, sexually molest or interfere in any way with the rights of Obama supporters?
No, they did none of those things, because it is not part of the ‘culture’ of American politicians to destroy the country they hope to rule.
And America has serious problems: large pockets of poverty, with many people losing jobs and homes, among other implications consequenced by a distressed economy. But do Romney’s supporters decide that to rectify these ills in their society they have to divide the nation and/or destroy its developmental path?
Instead Romney, despite his faults, graciously (even if unwillingly), as well as immediately, conceded electoral victory to Obama and adjured all Americans to work together for the national good. Sounds familiar?
And President Obama did not offer a basket of charity, but an assurance of hope for a restoration of greatness in the USA, where all things are achievable by anyone; with the emphasis, in effect, that such hope is a hope that comes with working hard and making sacrifices and not by sitting on the sidelines and expecting to be rewarded for lack of effort toward personal development and national progress.
The greatness that the USA once had, and which the President has assured will once again be achieved will only be realised, he warned, with the involvement of all its citizens in a common endeavour toward attainment of its former glory. He gave the assurance that he will call on the defeated Republican candidate, Governor Mitt Romney, to work together for the good of America and the American people. Again sounds familiar?
Guyana’s Opposition collective needs to take heed of the foregoing and join with President Donald Ramotar, whose invitation to the Opposition for tripartite discussions on national issues during the Tenth Parliament was rejected time and again for confrontational and destructive strategies meant to wrest power at any cost.
It is not too late for them to attempt to heal those breaches they have caused in the nation and join the Government to promote the developmental initiatives in the country for the general good of the Guyanese people, even if they do so post elections of 2015.

Barack Obama won because he is a genuinely caring President, and while he may not have all the answers, he was prepared to work with all stakeholders to find solutions to extant problems in endeavours to restore the former greatness and glory of the USA.

Above all the considerations, the most effective was his promise to invest in the human capital in that country. His people-centric campaign won the day.

Guyana’s Opposition collective, on the other hand, is prepared to destroy their country and the people, whom they refer to as “collateral damage”, in their ruthless drive for back-entry power.
As President Obama said, the USA will rise again, because, above all, all Americans are prepared to join forces and work toward that eventuality.

When will Guyanese politicians achieve that political maturity?