Noblat warns: Lula is a candidate in 2014.
In an article, a journalist says that, contrary to what she stated, Dilma will only be a candidate if Lula doesn't want to be, or if his health prevents him from running.
247 – In an article in Globo, Ricardo Noblat warns: Dilma will only be a candidate if Lula doesn't want to be. Or if his health prevents him from being one. Read:
Lula in line
"Chávez, count on me and the PT. Your victory will be our victory." (Lula, to Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela)
Part of the support for Dilma Rousseff is sincere. They are genuinely interested in her success. They like her or have learned to like her. And they believe the country is doing very well. Another part of Dilma's support is... How should I put it? Opportunistic. That's it. They hope that Dilma's success will end Lula's chances of being a presidential candidate in two years.
I advise the fair-weather supporters to remove the horse from the middle of the downpour once and for all. Dilma will only have one chance to run for reelection: if Lula chooses to stay home listening to Dona Marisa talk about the liveliness of their grandchildren. The other day, he said he will only run if Dilma doesn't want to. Nonsense. More nonsense.
It's the opposite. Dilma will only be a candidate if Lula doesn't want to be. Or if his health doesn't allow him to be. Between Brasília and São Paulo, on his first flight as former president of the Republic, Lula cried like a newborn whose mother has withheld her breast. He moved those who saw him cry. Senator José Sarney (PMDB-AP) was one of them.
The tears had a lot to do with Lula's reflection on his admirable life trajectory — from the poor boy who fled the drought in the Northeast to the labor leader who paralyzed the ABC region of São Paulo more than once; from the founder of a successful political party to the most popular president in the country's history.
If that weren't enough, before him, only one president had elected his successor: General Ernesto Geisel, the penultimate leader of the 64 dictatorship and godfather of General João Batista de Oliveira Figueiredo, who, as he once said, preferred the smell of horses to the smell of the people. Lula elected Dilma, who had never run for office before.
Some of Lula's tears during the flight had to do with something else: there, aboard the presidential jet, was a politician who had ardently wished to continue governing the country beyond the eight years of two terms. Lula had even sounded out allies about the idea of changing the Constitution to try to get re-elected for a third time. In vain.
Apart from Dona Marisa, who didn't dislike the idea, governors and mature figures within the PT opposed a third consecutive term as a dangerous adventure that would be very costly. Lula could sell it to a subservient Congress full of crooks. However, there would be the risk of the idea stalling in the Supreme Federal Court.
Anyone who imagines that Lula spoke with Dilma about his desire to return to governing the country from 2014 onwards is mistaken. He neither spoke with her nor needed to. Loyalty, absolute loyalty, is one of Dilma's virtues, highlighted by all who know her closely. Dilma often speaks of a "project".
She feels part of a project that began with Lula's first election and has no end date. The project's objective is to develop Brazil, with an emphasis on eliminating hunger and poverty. The vital piece for the project to succeed is Lula. What we have had for a little over a year is a cohabitation government — Dilma and Lula.
One term is more than enough for her; she has no inclination to deal with cunning politicians looking for easy advantages. Lula has more than enough inclination because he is just as, or even more, cunning than they are. The "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality runs in the weak veins of the former union leader, accustomed to promising, delivering if necessary, and bluffing without ceremony.
Dilma is not cunning. She wouldn't know how to be. And she wouldn't want to be. In the tough veins of the former guerrilla fighter, who endured many blows, runs the "give and take" mentality for what she believes is best for Brazil. That's why politicians are lighting candles. They're praying that time passes quickly, freeing them from the eventual occupant of the presidential chair in Lula's absence.
Wouldn't it be better for Lula's image if he renounced his desire to run for a third term and, if he obtains it, a fourth? The economic winds are now blowing against him. Lula III will face the memory of Lula I and Lula II. In politics, life goes on. And, by returning, Lula will only disrupt that process.