Politicians’ wives under the microscope

Michelle Muscat entered the public spotlight at an unenviable time in Malta’s history. She followed the very popular Kate Gonzi, the former PM’s wife, who is widely acknowledged to have been liked by everyone. Not an easy act to follow by any means.

Mrs Muscat was also the first Labour PM’s wife in anyone’s recent memory. Dom Mintoff’s wife rarely appeared in public, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici was a confirmed bachelor, while Alfred Sant’s marriage had been annulled so he was effectively single. This meant that all eyes were on Michelle from the get-go, purely because as a young wife and mother of two small children representing the “new” Labour party, she was a novelty for the nation.

We cannot over look another very salient fact: Michelle Muscat arrived on the public arena just when social media and online commentary exploded, so no other politician’s wife before her was ever subjected to such media scrutiny and free unedited comment by members of the public, who happily write whatever they like without any editor serving as a gatekeeper. People tend to forget that once something enters cyberspace it is there forever, which is why nothing critical can be found online about the late Mary Fenech Adami – she was lucky enough to have escaped the Internet. There was certainly no “share” button for any footage to be watched over and over again.

Now there are those who will point out that the problem is Mrs Muscat herself: she has been often described as pushy, overly ambitious and not knowing “her place” as the PM’s wife. While her predecessors were low-key and kept mostly in the background, only surfacing to be by their husband’s side at official functions, Michelle clearly never intended to take a back seat. So it stands to reason that if we rarely heard Mrs Gonzi or Mrs Fenech Adami speak on TV, there is no basis for comparison.

While Joseph Muscat himself is also criticized, somehow I find the backlash against Michelle to have an even nastier, more spiteful edge to it.

I may also venture to add that perhaps everyone had more restraint back than and curbed their criticism in the print media, showing respect for the role these women occupied.

So what is so different now?

It is patently obvious that a section of the population is irritated simply by the sight and sound of Michelle, claiming she is a social-climbing wannabe who represents everything they hate about the Muscat administration and the people who are now in top positions governing the country. Unsurprisingly, opinions towards her are very much divided across party lines, and a lot of it has to do with social class prejudice, the bane of our Maltese existence.

While Joseph Muscat himself is also criticized, somehow I find the backlash against Michelle to have an even nastier, more spiteful edge to it. It is as if the disdain towards anything Labour has been funnelled and directed into bashing this one figure who is, admittedly, often an easy target. I have already had occasion to point out that she should try to be more down-to-earth and “herself”, rather than put on this public persona which often rings false.

It also does not help that since she entered the public area, Michelle Muscat has made her share of gaffes. The latest is her handling of the story that 14 female inmates at the Corradino prison are owed over €16,000 for sewing curtains for the Love, Faith, Forgiveness project, as part of the Marigold Foundation, chaired by Mrs Muscat.

The press conference she gave to address the issue was rife with PR mistakes; her snappish tone and choice of language towards the press was completely the wrong way to handle the criticism. The “If you follow the media, I was on holiday, my dear” phrase, was enough to make anyone wince and immediately became the punchline of many jokes.

The truth of the matter is that when facing a barrage of probing media questions, it is essential to keep your cool, and remain ultra polite, even though you may be seething underneath. Mrs Muscat unwisely let her clear annoyance at being criticized for a praiseworthy initiative bubble up to the surface, which only made matters worse. Her “haters” had a field day.

Dealing with hostility is an unpleasant part of the job when one is in politics, and you have to accept that not everyone likes you. Unfortunately, once in the public eye, you have to take it on the chin, grit your teeth and bear it. A more media savvy person would have been prepared to smooth things over with a nice charming smile and polite answers to each question. If you are really good at this sort of thing you could even get away with a self-deprecating quip.

Curbing your real emotions is not easy, but under the glare of those cameras, at a time when the public mood towards the Government has shifted, the PM’s wife should not have taken that kind of approach with the press.

No one ever said that politics is a piece of cake, and media management and public perception have become an intrinsic part of the job, so it requires a lot of emotional and mental strength along with nerves of steel. Since she has opted to be in the limelight herself, Mrs Muscat has to expect that along with the attention, there will be flak as well.

But having put the whole thing into context, there are a few observations I would like to make:

1. In every sector in Malta, it can take months and even years to get paid. Ask anyone who is self-employed, and they will tell you that payments are often excruciatingly slow, and you have to “chase after your money” long after services have been rendered. In this respect I do not agree that the prisoners are being treated as slave labour, they are simply being treated like everyone else.

2. Mrs Muscat had a henna tattoo done on her hand during her trip to Dubai which was clearly visible during the press conference. Whether such a thing is “appropriate” for someone in her position is debatable, but did it really have anything to do with the prisoners not being paid? Not really.

3. Correct, balanced reporting dictates that you get both sides of the story before you go to print and you hold the story until you do. This clearly did not happen in this case. On Saturday, the Marigold Foundation issued a statement confirming that, to date, “inmates have ben paid over €14,700 with the last payment effected on 23rd February 2016.” (But why didn’t Mrs Muscat wait until she had this information to hand before holding a press conference?).

4. With this administration, the floodgates about what can be said about the wife of the person who occupies the PM’s role have been well and truly opened. Rightly or wrongly, Michelle has been scrutinized from head to toe, including the way she is raising her children. I trust that whoever comes along next is fully prepared to expect that (rightly or wrongly) they will probably be meted the same treatment.

And finally, of course, there should be criticism of those in office where justified and warranted, however it should be doled out with equal measure towards everyone across the board, and not a pick-and-choose type of criticism. But I don’t like nastiness.

I don’t like snobbery. And I don’t like it when people are torn to shreds simply because they don't fit a particular socio-political mould.

To me, that seems to say more about the person doing the shredding, than the person being shredded.