Tandem as reflection of Russian democracy

(Itar-Tass) - Oracles are disgraced once again. All inveterate political analysts
have a good chance to finish their inglorious careers. It is common truth
now: nobody managed to guess how the president-parliament solitaire would
be solved.
This happened as everybody believed truly there were only two variants
for the presidential election, and the final decision has appeared right
out of the blue sky.
It was not that much the distribution of roles, but the solid
demonstration of common will that struck most.
The problem is that analysts were involved too much in the thought it
would be necessary to overcome some, as many thought, unnatural dualism in
Russian politics. Over four years, the tandem has exhausted itself, they
said, and Russia should have a single ruler and tough management. They
thought the elections would put a limit, at last, to bifurcation of power,
management, ideology and personalities.
Correct, over the four years, Putin and Medvedev demonstrated not once
that they are different, and the differences may be quite visible and
sufficient. This was true regarding tactical aspects of home policy and
economic development, as well as staff issues and foreign policy. This
even has resulted in a special direction of political science, where
experts calculated thoroughly real and imaginary disputes between the
leaders and forecasted where the tandem will break apart.
The paradox is that the leaders themselves, unlike interpreters of the
Russian policies, chose not to consider certain inconsistencies and
incongruities between them. And, by the way, from the very beginning
nobody ever promised that the tandem is equipped with universal shock and
it will roll over bumps of Russian reality and international policies
exclusively in sync and harmony. Political scientists and politicians
feared themselves.
However, it is worth admitting that dismay was seen in some
representatives of federal and local bureaucratic elite.
What became evident as smoke cleared after the congress of United
Russia?
Those who sought to clear the situation and minds by exclusion from
the Russian policy of one of its pillars did miscalculate.
The tandem will go on. Though in a mirror image of 2008 and with
certain tactical nuances, of course, but still in its previous
composition. Analysts used immediately the chess term "castling". But the
castling - it's not a mere shuffle of pieces on the chess field. It is
rather change of places for aim of strengthening the overall position.
Whether this castling will improve Putin's position in the tandem?
Absolutely. After all, he will now gain the presidential powers. And
Medvedev is convinced that Putin's experience and authority will help to
implement these powers.
Whether Medvedev's role in the tandem will become stronger? No doubt.
Since now, leading the party to victorious elections, he will gain support
from the party bodies, and then , obviously, - from the strongly renewed
government. And Putin emphasized that now Medvedev can start to create a
young, energetic, efficient management team. This means he acknowledged
that Medvedev's work as the president had been successful.
Finally, as a result of the "in-tandem" castling, hopefully, the
general position of Russia will be established better, which is exactly
what ultimately we all should be concerned about, isn't it?
It turns out that despite evil prophecies, the long-term agreements do
work in Russian politics. And, moreover, they are effective for the
country.
Putin and Medvedev not only distanced in the least from their own
personal arrangements they made four years earlier. Nor did they give to
Russia or voters a reason to reproaches - simply because they followed
fully their beliefs and principles. Never disappointed or betrayed each
other or themselves.
It is also important that the tandem has retained actually two ruling
generations of politicians: despite the difference in age, which is not
too big, Putin and Medvedev have been formed in different times and
different circumstances. Today, 50-year-old and 30-year-old Russians need
heroes of OUR time. And the heroes should be victorious. Two presidents -
what could be more heroic? The Russian reality is such that in this
tandem, wittingly or unwittingly, the Russians are watching television,
like they would look in a mirror, searching for an answer to the question
of who they are today, and what they will be like tomorrow.
In the tandem they both managed to demonstrate their best qualities.
Putin - is a charismatic leader who can take responsibility and formulate
moods and wishes of the people quickly. Medvedev - is a modern
technological politician, who knows what precise calculation is and who is
naming openly the society's illnesses, and, by the way, he is capable of
decisive action, as was shown in the conflict with Georgia.
Now, looking into the mirror of United Russia's congress, everybody,
like it happens often, began collectively to see the light. It became
clearly obvious: the tandem has not been a tactical alliance for temporal
stability. The tandem does not aspire to answer a primitive childish
question, "who is stronger - an elephant or a whale?" The ideology of the
decision to establish a tandem from the very beginning was to approach
with common will the common objective - and it is obvious: modernisation
/no questions from the floor!/ of the country and dignity of the people -
not to lose multi-variant motion and internal pluralism. This means - not
to lose creation capacity and to offer a resultant acceleration vector,
which would move the country forward.
Russia is too immense to have everything inside it simply and
unambiguously. And the mirror it looks into should match. The tandem
should try once again.