Final Word from Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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The leading Czech politicians have always been either really smart or "too smart." Think what you may of them otherwise, but Klaus, Havel, Kalousek, Schwarzenberg, Nečas, Gross, Paroubek, Rath, Bárta and Lux, are, or were in their time, smooth operators. We can't put Karolína Peake in this same category. She is neither. Journalist Jaroslav Plesl said bluntly on Czech TV last year that if Vít Bárta had to leave VV, the only person capable of taking over the party would be Kateřina Klasnová. She is much smarter than Peake, he said. The same caveat, we think, applies now as Peake leaves VV. Peake's supporters will of course argue that it's her unimpugned integrity that will allow her to shine as the head of a new political party. The question, though, is how her Public Against Corruption (or whatever the party is called) will deal with the much-smarter Kalousek when he tries to push through something like church restitution. The limits to her ability to lead an anti-corruption party will soon become apparent enough.Czech Republic Václav Miroslav Karel Petr Stanislav David Vít Josef Věci veřejné VPK PAC Television]