Interviewers keep asking Joseph Muscat whether he feels he would be politically ready to be Prime Minister at 39. That late? They should be asking if he would be ready at 38. Or even 37.
Dr Muscat turned 34 on January 22 this year. For him to be 39 at the next general election, the legislature would need to take its full course. But will it?
No legislature since 1987 has lasted the full course. The last Parliament, which came close, was dissolved by Lawrence Gonzi in time for the election to be held on the symbolically-laden date of March 8.
Are we to believe that the Nationalist Party, in four years' time, will not extract every symbolic advantage that can be dredged from a contrast between a Dr Gonzi in full political maturity and a very youthful Leader of the Opposition? By calling the general election even just six months ahead of schedule, an already-furrowed public brow about Dr Muscat's age could turn into a real issue.
The argument is not just about symbols, or even just about Dr Muscat. It goes to the heart of the political game of the next legislature: the paradox of the March 8 result that should be very much on the Malta Labour Party's mind.
The paradox is this: The general election saw the PN parliamentary party emerge rather weakened but Dr Gonzi a much stronger figure. This result has consequences for the PN itself. A party that makes a sharp point of calling its leader not mexxej but kap - a head, belonging to a body - will need to be extra careful not to become an appendage. The fact that in the summer the party will replace its top three political officers (after the leader and deputy), could be a sign of important renewal but also initiate a tricky period in which Dr Gonzi's stature could dwarf the party to his own disadvantage.
For the MLP, the consequences require it to revise one of its long-standing assumptions. Since 1998, and its own aborted government, the MLP has been predicting and praying for a legislature that does not last the course. Should Dr Muscat be elected as its leader, the MLP will need to start praying for a five-year legislature.
Dr Muscat has pointed out that age should not be the only factor in the selection of a leader. True. But a leader, of whatever calibre, needs to be built up so that the electorate can recognise his/her qualities. He or she needs time. Eddie Fenech Adami needed years. So did Dr Gonzi, who only came into his own during the last election campaign.
Here enters the relevance of paradox of the March 8 result. The PN's slim parliamentary majority, in the particular circumstances, may well lead to a shorter legislature than we are used to. But whereas ordinarily that should play against the Prime Minister of the day, the current particular circumstances may favour Dr Gonzi.
He has not just emerged a stronger figure through the election victory. He found his political voice during the campaign. The narrow victory hides the sheer number of people who were won over to him personally - people who came to genuinely wish him well, to believe he had much more yet to give.
And since that victory, his approval ratings have probably increased, thanks to the signals he has given and steps he has taken. If a general election were held today, Dr Gonzi would probably win the absolute majority of votes.
The fact that the parliamentary majority seems fragile does not mean it will break down. But it does mean the MLP needs to choose a leader whose qualities will be, if possible, apparent from Day One. Especially since before things get better for the MLP, the likelihood is that they will get worse, as the reorganisation of the party and its finances gets underway.
Do these factors eliminate Dr Muscat from consideration as leader in 2008? No. But they do raise the question of age from one factor among others to a dominant one.
Over the years, the vicissitudes of the MLP have suggested passages from Shakespeare. It is not just Jason Micallef asking if it's a dagger that he sees before him. There are the loves Labour lost.
Lino Spiteri has himself explicitly cited Othello, saying that he loved the party not wisely but too well.
Alfred Mifsud says he offered the party wisdom at least once every Friday; but, like Coriolanus, found himself telling the MLP: You do not banish me, I banish you.
Dr Muscat says the readiness is all - but to quote or not to quote Hamlet is the question.
"Ripeness is all" might seem, coming from King Lear, a bad omen. But only if the old party blinds itself. If it recognises in time the leader best able to take it into the next general election, whenever it comes, the tragedy could be rewritten as a romance.
ranierfsadni@europe.com