The falling stars of the political stage
Something’s changed in the tough world of politics, and not just in Greece. Up until approximately a decade ago, few if any European politicians who had risen high through the ranks ever believed they might need to get a regular job someday. Politics was a closed system that ensured a degree of protection and relative permanence. No one could image Francois Mitterrand, Helmut Kohl, Andreas Papandreou or Konstantinos Karamanlis leaving politics and looking for a job in the private sector. They had endurance and a status that was not affected by whether they won or lost an election.
Look now! Where to even begin? Boris Johnson, a prime minister elected with a comfortable majority, is out mainly for financial reasons. A series of political “rock stars” that were revered on TikTok and social media ended up unable to stand the pressure of politics. Austria’s Sebastian Kurz was the world’s youngest head of state and everyone thought he’d have a stellar political career for decades. Today he works for a fund in California. Finland’s former premier, Sanna Marin, is another star whose light in politics shone bright and then died away. She’s leaving the leadership of her party in the fall to “open a new page” in her life. There are many similar examples.
The question is why do we have so many political leaders who cannot last more than one or two terms? And why has the world’s most dynamic democracy and economy ended up with two elderly contenders for the presidency?
Well, toxicity is one of the main reasons. It is one thing to be under pressure and another to absorb vitriol all day long, without having a moment of privacy. It is worth asking how Mitterrand, Papandreou and all those other stars would have lasted in such an environment, where all their weaknesses and passions would have been put out in plain view.
Politics has always been a game for people with thick skin; now it should come with hazard pay. And, of course, under normal circumstances it is not a job with serious financial benefits. In this day and age especially, even the side perks, like business-class travel, will become the subject of criticism. Another reason why so many stars die out when they reach great heights is that they have allowed themselves to become products of and slaves to over-communication. They have forgotten that politics is a marathon that requires strategy and is ultimately judged by its results. Using TikTok as a medium is necessary because it opens certain channels of communication up, but no politician will last long if all they are is a flash in the TikTok pan.
You can have a political career in this day and age with star quality, but there is a risk that you will join the ranks of the falling stars that end up looking for a job.
