By Alexis Papachelas

Bodyguards are said to train their entire lives for what they will do in just a few minutes. It is very much like this in politics too.

In 48 hours, Costas Karamanlis will walk out onto this stage called politics and face a society that is expecting something groundbreaking. This is to be a solo performance on which a lot will be judged.

The premier knows his history and knows there is nothing worse than a sense of disappointment following such a show. This was the case with Costas Simitis when he dethroned Costas Laliotis and went on to execute the dullest Cabinet reshuffle of his term in office. Everyone expected him to pull a rabbit out of the hat and he didn’t; it was the beginning of the end.

New Democracy today is much like it was in those long opposition years. Its top cadres have unsheathed their swords, as has often been the case in ND at the first sign of crisis. It is as if the political survival instinct has abandoned them and they are running to save themselves.

It is hard to see how Karamanlis will get out of this jam. One group of advisers is asking him to go ahead with radical changes across the board. According to them, that is the only way to stop the progress of corrosion that began in Thessaloniki. Others closer to him believe that he should go to ND’s central committee on Friday and try to rally his troops for a “fresh” start, and perhaps even show them the sharper side of his tongue.

The prime minister is listening to this advice but, as usual, is not revealing any of his cards. He obviously understands that this is crunch time, requiring unusual tactics. He also knows that politics shares a lot of similarities with the theater – the crowd’s expectations must be met; both your entry and exit are of tantamount importance and you may be, unjustly perhaps, compared to other protagonists who have played the same role.

A tougher appearance before an audience such as Karamanlis’s could not have been dreamed of by even the most scathing critic.