Joel Brinkley
In
Hussain leads the
President Asif Ali Zardari's untimely European visit last month, just as the flooding reached a crisis point, still hangs heavy in people's minds -- even more so now that the Pakistani newspapers are carrying stories reportedly revealing the true reason for Zardari's refusal to postpone or cancel that trip: He wanted to bid at an auction that week for a six-bedroom, luxury penthouse on
I can't verify the accuracy of those reports, but it's interesting that Zardari has not chosen to deny them. Now his political opponents are excoriating him for spending all that money on himself while thousands of his people were, quite literally, drowning. (Imagine if former President
You could say Zardari has a tin ear for politics. But in truth, the problem runs much deeper than that. He is of the social class whose wealthy members barely recognize that the rest of the nation, 170 million poor and unwashed Pakistanis, even exists. Consider how the president dealt with the epochal flood after he returned from his sojourn through
Until just now, as he realizes his job is in jeopardy, Zardari never even thought to visit the flooded regions so he could see how his people were faring. He went out only when he had no choice. Sen.
Hussain, the MQM leader, is certainly no angel; brutality and corruption allegations dog him, and he has lived full time in
In late August, Hussain urged "patriotic generals" to "take martial-law type action" against corrupt politicians and major landowners. Political commentators were at first dismissive, saying he was calling for martial law. Like politicians everywhere, Hussain said he had been misunderstood and tried to recast his remarks. That's were the French Revolution line came from.
Actually, for more than half of the time since its birth in 1947, the military has ruled
"It is clear by now that most of those who welcome regime change through 'honest generals' are focused not on new elections but a tenure of national caretakers selected by the army,"
For the moment, an army coup or citizen revolution seem unlikely. But now that the flooding has shown Pakistanis what kind of president they really have, the status quo has forever changed.
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(C) 2010 Joel Brinkley