Blame it on Sobotka
Labor Min. Michaela Marksová of ČSSD said in HN today that it was a huge mistake for her party to kick Andrej Babiš out of the cabinet so soon before the Oct. parliamentary elections. She didn't mention Bohuslav Sobotka by name, but she deftly put the blame on him for the blunder. With Kateřina Valachová gone from the cabinet, Miloslav Ludvík one foot out of politics and Milan Chovanec locked into the same power structure as Sobotka, Marksová is the only ČSSD minister with the platform to help her party's new election leader, Lubomír Zaorálek, change the way voters perceive the Social Democrats in the three months before the elections. It's a tricky proposition to aggressively scapegoat a former party chairman who remains the PM, and neither Zaorálek nor Marksová has the stomach for it now. Marksová's criticism should probably instead be understood as a mild precursor to the virulent debate that will start within ČSSD on election night, Oct. 21.
Glossary of difficult words
deftly - in a clever or skillful way;blunder - a stupid or careless mistake;
one foot out (the door) - about to leave;
tricky proposition - a difficult thing to do;
to scapegoat - to put the blame on someone for the wrongdoings, mistakes or faults of others;
stomach - a desire or inclination for something involving conflict or difficulty;
precursor - a person or thing that comes before another of the same kind;
virulent - bitterly hostile.