Promises Babiš won't keep

After months of taking a beating in the polls, ČSSD suddenly finds itself in a rather enviable position. It has an enthusiastic new election leader with a track record of criticizing billionaires, even if Lubomír Zaorálek had to apply the brakes for three years while Bohuslav Sobotka ran the country. ČSSD also has the luxury of being able to make campaign promises that it won't have to keep, yet it is being surprisingly restrained. Its tax proposal, including the bank tax, is standard fare for a center-left party. Moreover, it is now in the position for the first time of being able to provide meaningful criticism of the campaign promises of Andrej Babiš, such as his plan to give every employee a Kč 500/month discount on the social tax. This would cost the pension system something like Kč 25bn per year. ČSSD has an army of friendly journalists, analysts and NGOs that contributed to Babiš's rise through their rabid criticism of him. If they now redirected their venom into constructive criticism of ANO's pie-in-the-sky campaign promises, they would start helping their party instead of hurting it.