They say that the famous line: “It’s the economy, stupid!” led Bill Clinton to the presidency of the United States. It is attributed to James Carville, the Democratic adviser in the successful 1992 election campaign. Clinton thus swapped his seat as governor of Arkansas for that of the Oval Office of the White House. George Bush Sr. had focused his campaign on foreign policy – the end of the Cold War or the Gulf War – and seemed less concerned with the problems Americans faced every day. The phrase has since been used by political analysts to refer to similar processes in other parts of the world.
But of course we Argentines are very special people. And what is the rule in other latitudes does not work in my country. There would be no other way to explain that Sergio Massa, current Minister of Economy of a country that had inflation of 103.2% in September 2023 – 140% year-on-year – and a poverty rate of 40, would run as a presidential candidate. 1% in the first semester of this year, affecting 56.2% of Argentine children. Carville would be floored if he found out that this minister was the most elected presidential candidate in the first round, with 36.42% of the vote.
Read the full forum here.