Marifeli Perez-Stable

Published in The Miami Herald
January 19, 2006

”Violence entered my life and destroyed what I loved. I was a victim of hate, and so I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred by turning it into understanding, tolerance and — why not say it outright? — love.” So spoke Michelle Bachelet on Sunday night after winning Chile’s presidential election.

Anyone who followed the race — from the first round on Dec. 10 when she failed to win a majority to the second on Jan. 15 when she bested Sebastián Piñera by seven points and 500,000 votes– is familiar with her personal story. A Socialist like outgoing President Ricardo Lagos, Bachelet is a single mother of three, an agnostic, the daughter of an air-force general who was tortured and died in prison after Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup. Bachelet and her mother also suffered imprisonment and torture before being exiled.

The center-right Piñera — a self-made billionaire who voted No in the 1988 referendum that ended Pinochet’s dictatorship — challenged Bachelet’s credentials. ”Piñera, More President,” his campaign proclaimed.

Though neither he nor she had ever held elective office, Piñera wagered wrongly that amassing wealth plus his traditional values would trump her public service and out-of-the-mainstream personal profile.

Upon returning to Chile in 1979, Bachelet worked at a Swedish-funded clinic for children from families victimized by political repression. After 1990, when the center-left coalition of Socialists and Christian Democrats — Concertación — won power, she joined the Health Ministry to work on AIDS and epidemiological programs. In 1996, she enrolled in Chile’s national war college to specialize in strategic studies. The Inter-American Defense College in Washington invited her for a course of study, which she followed. Upon returning to Chile, Bachelet worked in the Defense Ministry. Under Lagos, she gained national prominence as minister of health and defense.

Bachelet has the common touch, that innate ability to connect with ordinary citizens. Her unorthodox profile underscores another one of her assets: the credibility of her claim that she represents continuity with change, a promise to continue the policies that have placed Chile at the doorstep of the developed world while striving to reduce the inequalities that still obstruct the social inclusion of so many citizens.

The president-elect will be successful only if she also gives due respect to the raw business of politics. Relying on her common touch alone will not be enough. In part for not sufficiently minding her own coalition’s machinery, Bachelet underperformed in the first electoral round. To a great extent, she owes her impressive margin of victory to the good ol’ boys who advised her the second time around.

Unlike her predecessors, she did not promote the balanced election of deputies and senators from among Christian Democrats and Socialists. The Socialist preeminence in the Concertación legislative majority resulted partly from Bachelet’s refrain. Christian Democrats can legitimately claim more than their fair share of cabinet appointments.

Will Bachelet comply even if it means fudging on her promise to name a 50-50 cabinet of women and men who are truly new faces and not simply playing musical chairs at the top? Will she be up to the task of managing the Concertación governing majority skillfully to advance the challenges of inclusion Chile confronts?

Once in office, Bachelet may do well or otherwise. Lagos is the hardest of acts to follow. In any case, she should be judged by what she does or fails to do without reference to her gender.

After all, neither Lagos’ success nor, for instance, Mexican President Vicente Fox’s failure has anything to do with their maleness. Still, Bachelet’s record will always be prefaced by her becoming Chile’s first female president and the first woman in Latin America to reach the highest office without the auspices of a powerful husband.

After the December round, UM political scientist Felipe Agüero noted that winning on Jan. 15 would be more about art and geometry than arithmetic. Bachelet and Concertación won by doing right by all three. Governing successfully will need the same kind of juggling, albeit never forgetting that doing the math is a cardinal rule of politics without which art and geometry aren’t possible.