THE QUALITY BRAND OF RÕIVAS IS EXTERIOR. DANDY STATUS, BIG LIFESTYLE, OVERLY SELF-CONFIDENT

You do not need to pity on Taavi Rõivas. For several years he had a possibility to play in the political premier league, be on the same picture with Angela Merkel, Barack Obama and many other first rank stars.

Many people have rather envied him and considered to be better than him, nevertheless, the chair has still belong to him. I mean specifically active politicians, including the members of the Estonian Reform Party. The quality brand of Rõivas is exterior. Dandy status, big lifestyle.

Screaming socks, a wooden wristwatch, expensive suits, fine and fancy coats, brown shoes. Totally opposite to Andrus Ansip, who valued the content, advertised his skill of creasing trousers and modest lifestyle. A little bit of cycling, participated as an eager amateur sportsmen. A top-ranking politician who moves into the villa of General Laidoner, cannot stay in power for long – the envy by competitors takes him down quickly.

The gallery of Estonian financial newspaper Äripäev “I and celebrity” said everything about the method of government by Rõivas – I meet people, take photos, upload them to Twitter and the country is governed. Only some fine tuning is necessary and if Jevgeni and Margus do not grumble too much, then all glory will fall on one pin – to the squirrel on the coat facing. However, the Reform Party represents only 158 971 people today in Estonia (2015, the parliament elections), which is far from 1.3 million, of which the majority does not know which plant is a sees company and whether it is an alien species in Estonia like a giant hogweed.

What went wrong? In 2014 Rõivas managed to hit his hand inside the cake in the right moment, but he did not notice to pull it out there anymore. Even the stories by the coalition partners gave an impression that the prime minister uses its bureau as a travel bureau. The will to be important does not necessarily make the person important. The influence is low.

I even cannot recall whether we previously had a prime minister, whose principal part of the public image is: “I am so great, I am doing everything so well, love me.” In the interest of truth, this partially may even be like that, but a person himself cannot never leave an impression like that by himself. People do not like self-admiration.

Hanno Pevkur with his softer personality would probably have been much modest and restrained in governing. The politician could rather be quietly distinguished than loudly striking. Even if the criticism is not justified, things that look sincere do pretty much still count. The politician should respect people instead of being arrogant.

To his credit, Rõivas has enjoyed being a prime minister. A person who likes his work, does it definitely better than the one who’s forced to do it. When we recall Italian-French film “Habemus Papam” (2011) where a man who is against his will elected pope, then we certainly cannot blame Rõivas for this sin.

Sometimes you need to step back in order to take several steps forward. Rõivas is characterised by overly self-confidence: well what are you talking about right now, I know how things are!

But the society is much larger than the understanding of the matter by even an especially great politician. In 1995 Winston Churchill, being sick, could not understand that his time is up and the queen had to personally give this news to him. When Tony Blair managed to completely bore the society within 10 years according to his PR manager, then Taavi Rõivas managed to do that in 2.5 years.

In some sense it was also tragic that Rõivas could not find loyal allies, could not create them – among other political parties. His style was two abrupt among dissidents. Nevertheless, he definitely learned a lot and does not disappear from Estonian political world. We’ll see for how long he can rest his feet on the recommendation by Ossinovski.