Miloš Zeman’s short speech on the second wave of the pandemic, broadcast by the media on Friday evening, is certainly one of the more successful in his presidential era.
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And even compared to the same genre from the time of the first wave, when March 19 with an aggressive vocabulary he urged “ignore the barking and screaming of our journalistic commentators” or raised a curious suggestion “even actors, some of whom complained that they had no business, would do better if, for example, they visit retirement homes and bring a little joy there.”
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This time, the president got his job. It should be taken for granted, but in Zeman’s case we must acknowledge that he spoke with dignity and to the point. The only ones he got into were “anti-sculptors” who, he said, knew nothing about the epidemic. People should, he said, listen to experts and ignore “dentists, cardiologists, singers.”
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That could probably be expressed in a little more shaded. Not everyone who has a problem with drape regulations is automatically a denier of covid and epidemiological science, an admirer of Roman Šmucler, a believer in the truth of chain mails. But be it – the situation is serious, dramatic, there is no time, and Zeman’s simple appeal to “ignore opinions” makes sense. Either or. We live in a state of emergency and we need to get out of it.
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It was very important that the president emphasized at the outset the regret over the loss of life and compassion for the families of the dead. As well as expressing “respect, admiration and thanks” to the paramedics. This is to be heard from the head of state.
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The speech had two flaws. For the first Miloš Zeman cannot directly, for the second he can.
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A similar speech was supposed to come at least two weeks, rather a month earlier. But she could hardly until the government swung to action. Like her, the president is part of the executive branch, but he does not have the competence to practice the state, he must “wait”. The government’s measures must first be, and only then can the president “fully support them on television, even though I think they could sometimes have been better communicated.”
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The second flaw is the contradiction between “full support for government action” and the fact that the president also vehemently requests an exception. Yes, it is about the presentation of state decorations on October 28 at Prague Castle.
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Here we are watching the contradiction. The most telling expression of “full support” would be if the Castle accepted the measures itself. And he didn’t insist on a special version of the ceremony, he didn’t employ hygiene and the Ministry of Health, he didn’t add stress. The public holiday can be remembered with dignity and the award can be handed over even without a sanitary exception.
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Moreover, when its protagonist is to be the chief epidemiologist Roman Prymula. The face of all the covid’s restrictions that beg people to stay home will, with a possibly signed handwritten exception, go to the castle bubble for honors? It does seem inappropriate, strange.
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At the end of his speech, Miloš Zeman emphasized “responsibility towards himself and others”. Which would testify on October 28 without the ritual of the order. Otherwise, some people may think that Zeman is preaching water and drinking wine. And his uncompromising appeals to “veils” and “experts” will fail.
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