BRAZIL-Is it that they just can't resist?

Or are they scared witless?

Not long ago on this blog I made reference to a very wise comment of one of my clients, the president of the local subsidiary of a large European MNC. He said he would give practically anything for just one executive who, when faced with a major decision, would say “Let’s think this through before we react.”

Life is full of clichés about the wisdom of “cautious delay”: “Let sleeping dogs lie”; “Don’t rush to judgment”; and the less famous one from New Jersey – “What’s your f****** hurry?”

They all suggest that moving too fast can sometimes cause more problems than it solves.

Such would seem to be the case with Dilma’s impeachment.

The administration seems to want to move her eventual trial faster and get a final verdict by August. The PT is, of course, livid with anger.

After all the debate that resulted in a Supreme Court decision to define, once and for all, the procedures to be followed for impeaching a president, the administration wants to change the rules. I guess Brazil’s politicians simply cannot resist fixing what ain’t broke.

Dilma is out of office for up to 180 days. She screams epithets from the back of the bar and for some crazy reason that I have yet to fathom she was given access to an Air Force jet to take her wherever she wants to go and preach her message of “coup d’état”. 

Since that damage is already done, it seems to me the best thing to do is just live with it. Anyway, the recent news coming out of Lava-Jato’s plea bargains continue to offer rather strong arguments against her claims of a “coup”.

The debate over Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment is being conducted, with significant and rather puerile verbal pushing and shoving, in a Special Senate Committee that will decide if the case goes to a plenary session in the Senate for judgment. 

If the committee votes against sending the case forward, it is closed and Dilma returns to office.

If the case is sent forward, the Senate must render a verdict within the 180-day period that Dilma is out of office to stand trial or she returns to office. She vacated office on 12 May so the Senate jury has up to around 12 November to come up with a verdict.

Dilma’s supporters on the committee engage in all manner of shenanigans to delay moving the process forward while the opposition tries to accelerate it.

Watching the debates on Tuesday, the 2^nd, was a bit like watching a circus in which none of the acts was very professional. The jugglers dropped the articles they were juggling, the trapeze artists kept falling into the net, the lion tamer was attacked by one of the cats, the human pyramid of the gymnasts collapsed and the only act that seemed to be professional were the clowns whose chaos was at least amusing.

I simply fail to see what is to be gained from accelerating the trial now that Dilma is out of office. The economy already shows signs of “bottoming out” and stabilizing. Interim President Michel Temer has the power he needs to carry out his programs. He is auditing the social programs that were the showcase of the Rousseff and Lula administrations and finding a wide array of patronage and cronyism. He can probably cause more damage to the PT and its 13 years in government by simply exposing its screw-ups and malfeasance in the light of thorough audits than trying to speed things up.

Of course, the flip side of this desire to speed things up might increase the risk that Lava-Jato will come up with information that will compromise those in power as well as the PT. (That’s more like a certainty!) After all, the war being conducted is between two groups of kleptocrats, neither of which has an unblemished reputation for integrity and moral probity.

However, that risk is unavoidable whether Dilma is impeached immediately or in November. Lava-Jato simply cannot be stopped or stymied in its efforts to weed out corruption. 

Speeding up the impeachment process won’t change things one iota with regard to avoiding exposure going forward. As I wrote previously, when the tide goes out it’s easy to see who is swimming naked! And as we saw in my post on King Canute, no one, not even a great king, controls the tide!

So, it would appear that the adage that we should leave sleeping dogs lie is quite wise. I have yet to see many Brazilians who want to see Dilma back in office and would be inclined to change their minds about that. It has often been written in the press that while things might be bad with the traditional kleptocrats in charge, they would be worse if Dilma were to return to office.

So, what’s the f****** hurry?