Final Word from Monday, November 5, 2012
Ivan Fuksa, who unsuccessfully ran yesterday for ODS chair- man, is a man of contradictions. He's closely associated with Miroslav Kalousek, but he doesn't want the prime minister taking orders from the finance minister. He's against rais- ing taxes, but he oversaw a large tax hike as first deputy fi- nance minister under Eduard Janota (as Petr Nečas cleverly pointed out yesterday). He wants ODS to improve its image and reputation, yet his face is one of the more tarnished ones in the party. He was also one of only two people singled out for praise by Mirek Topolánek (the other was Martin Kuba). Fuksa's solution to ODS's problems is a "restart." After Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev announced a "restart" in 2009, Hillary Clinton instead presented an "overload" button to her Russian counterpart. It was the result of a linguist mistake. Fuksa seems to be working intentionally on an ODS overload. The eco-tender may be dead, but the three main political forces behind it (Kalousek, Topolánek, Fuksa) are still in business.
Glossary of difficult words
to tarnish - to make or become less valuable or respected;
to single someone out - to choose someone or something from a group for special treatment.