Final Word from Wednesday, April 26, 2017

More than some other nationalities, Czechs change their voice when they speak gently to a child or loved one. Politicians can rarely get away with this, because it would make them seem condescending or insincere. Andrej Babiš nevertheless uses this technique on a regular basis, whether knowingly or not, and it is one of the secrets to his success. Without this element of his personality, his repeated attempts to play the victim would fall on deaf ears. A Stalin-like cult of personality might exist within ANO, because Babiš enjoys such undemocratic control over this party, but it is the "charm of personality" that makes him such a hit with voters. No one could have predicted that he would have this effect on so many people. Of course his "charm" has the opposite effect on perhaps even more people, but the Czech proportional voting system works to his benefit in this respect. To defeat Babiš, his enemies must find a way to turn this charm to pure poison. [Czech Republic Joseph anti-Babiš]