Eduardo Campos, the "bride courted" by all.
Friends in the past, fierce adversaries in the last two decades, Governor Eduardo Campos (PSB) and Senator Jarbas Vasconcelos (PSDB) are now flirting noisily; the rapprochement has little to do with provincial issues and much more to do with the future of the political leaders; the possible rapprochement is already generating jealousy, as in the PSDB, of Sérgio Guerra.
- Even while staying as far away as possible from the Recife mayoral race, Senator Jarbas Vasconcelos (PMDB), even in his most cordial and silent phase, has never ceased to have his every move closely watched. Without showing interest in "diving headfirst" into the campaigns of the main opposition mayoral candidates, Raul Jungmann (PPS) and Mendonça Filho (DEM) – his protégé Raul Henry (PMDB) would be a good opportunity to break Jarbas's absolute silence, but the PMDB member has not yet taken a position – the senator now seems inclined to get closer to the "leader of all," Eduardo Campos (PSB).
Whether it's a political strategy or not, one thing is certain: Jarbas has entered the orbit around the current star of Pernambuco, the socialist governor. Some say that Jarbas's future plans, at almost seventy years old, are to distance himself from active political life and therefore leave with a reduced number of adversaries.
If any political guru, in 92, had predicted the current "banner of peace" launched by the PMDB member, he would certainly have been called crazy. As a mayoral candidate, Jarbas did not accept Miguel Arraes's nomination of his grandson, Eduardo Campos, then unknown, as his running mate. Declared mortal enemies, Arraes even said that the PMDB member was following "the path of perdition." Many years later, Eduardo overwhelmingly avenged the defeat his grandfather suffered at the hands of Jarbas in 1998, in the gubernatorial race. In 2010, the socialist humiliated the PMDB member at the polls in his bid for re-election. Showing that in politics anything is possible, and the former rivals now exchange public cordialities.
Behind the scenes, it's difficult to accept that the reconciliations don't have electoral roots. Campos, for his part, has ceased to be a tool solely for Pernambuco and figures in the national picture of possibilities. Articulate like few others, the governor practices the politics of "talk to those who can, obey those who have sense." Seeking a restricted group of opponents, speculation suggests that Eduardo has in mind, in the near future, a candidacy for the presidency of Brazil.
The timid, but significant, rapprochement between Jarbas and Eduardo is already arousing jealousy. Increasingly distant, Jarbas and Sérgio Guerra (PSDB) would, ironically, be building a bridge towards the same socialist edge. Already showing discomfort at seeing his PMDB rival with the same political strategy, Guerra satirized, last Tuesday (27), when he stated that Jarbas should give explanations about this change of posture; "before angry and, today, nice".