"It's not a Chinese vase, it's worse because no one directly strives to locate it somewhere." There is the paradox that this crude phrase about the situation of President Alberto Fernández in the final stretch of his mandate comes from the mouth of a leader who says he loves him, who does not deny it in public and who defends him every time he appears in the media and is consulted about the shortcomings of the management of his "friend".
It is an a priori comment that is not loaded with malice but that has the particularity of graphing with some precision what happens inside the ruling party since Sergio Massa was anointed as the pre-candidate for majority president of Union for the Fatherland and that the head of state who commands Argentina until December 10 was relegated to a secondary role in the scheme of political leadership of the Government.
Fernández's agenda since the campaign began shows his isolation. Run from the axis of political debate by the UxP strategy of giving centrality to Massa, the president clings to the international agenda and minor management activities, low flying and profile, with the aim of staying active and spending these remaining months to his administration without going through political and personal shocks. "The game is settled, you have to wait without kicking or receiving them that the minutes pass and the referee finishes it," was the analogy – in football terms – made by another man of confidence of the President.
In the last month, supported by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, his most unconditional leader, Fernández appealed to the international arena as a refuge from inconsequentiality: in addition to a state visit to Brazil and the photo with Lula da Silva, hours after the closing of lists, the head of state sought to capitalize on the Mercosur Summit and the forum in Brussels between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union ( EU).
He didn't have too many options locally. With the premise that the "positive" announcements of the Government should be made by Massa, Fernández had little activity of transcendence according to a President and had to get on tasks that a minister usually fulfills. There was an exception to the "ban" that was imposed on him and did not go well: the commissioning of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, which he headed with Cristina, left scenes that campaign strategists would have wanted to avoid.
Like some statements, such as the one he made in a radio interview days ago, when he seemed to allude to Cristina, in a phrase that generated controversy: "I have left everything and I have not taken anything."
In the bunker of Union for the Fatherland they do not go around when it comes to justifying the absence of Alberto F. in the campaign: "The farther possible, better because the candidate is Sergio," they explain. Although they assure, so as not to exacerbate the internal ones, that "there is nothing against him."
With this mandate, Fernández climbed into activities more linked to the functions of a minister than a president. There were several cases in the past two weeks.
In all cases, Fernández appeared with ministers who, despite his political debacle, have him considered: Gabriel Katopodis (Public Works), Santiago Maggiotti (Territorial Development and Habitat), Daniel Filmus (Science and Technology), and Tristán Bauer (Culture).
With Katopodis this Wednesday he had traced a tour of Cañuelas, in a work of the route 3 trace that he had to cancel due to rain. Eager for activities, they changed the itinerary on the fly: they went to San Martín, the minister's small payment, to tour a recently opened industrial dry cleaners. The Government took care to highlight a fact: that the firm employs 210 workers. There was internal debate after the activity regarding the advisability of the President disembarking at that plant.
On Tuesday, Fernández had met with the outgoing ambassador of China, Zou Xiaoli, after leading the closure of the Federal Agricultural Council, an activity that the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, decided to dispense with, despite the fact that it was armed by his pupil the Secretary of Agriculture, Juan José Bahillo.
On Monday, as the only task, Fernández posed for the photo after a meeting with Health Minister Carla Vizzotti. The excuse? The announcement of the signing of the regulatory decree of Law 27,680 on the Prevention and Control of Antimicrobial Resistance.
Last week he did not have much more flight: on Friday he had toured the María Elena Walsh House Museum with the Minister of Culture, Tristán Bauer and on Thursday he passed through the Federal Council of Science and Technology by the hand of Daniel Filmus.
Fernández sought to supply so much low-profile agenda with a dinner this Wednesday at the Quinta de Olivos with the leadership of the CGT: Héctor Daer, the pope of the labor federation, never moved away from his "friend", despite strongly supporting Massa to stay with the pre-candidacy.
But beyond public activity, the president's problem extends to the definitions in terms of management: those who closely followed Massa's negotiations with the IMF say that the president remained on the sidelines. And some even claim that he was not even notified of the preliminary agreement, something that they dismiss outright in the Casa Rosada: "They talk permanently, they were on the phone all weekend." The most malicious voices insist that his role in that agreement was testimonial.
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