A Hard Time in Brazil

A few weeks ago I commented on the protests in Brazil and indicated that Dilma Roussef, the president of Brazil, was moving to address the protesters' issues.  Well, it seems that she might be like Barack, she can speak well but has problems actually doing anything. 

She planned to spend more on education and health care; the money would come from oil royalties.  The problem is that the royalties do not yet exist.  First, she favored convoking a constitutional assembly to address issues, then she favored holding a plebiscite. Her plan to address health issues by importing foreign doctors has met with protests by Brazilian doctors, who appear to be underpaid and overworked in comparison with many of their peers in other countries.

Many have commented that Roussef is in over her head.  A couple of typical comments:

“In a situation like this, the only thing you can do is try to take the initiative and define the agenda. But what’s worrisome here is that there doesn’t seem to be an agenda, only ad-libbing.” 
“The government has been living in a certain isolation, a kind of comfort zone after 10 years, because everything seemed to be going so well. We were flying on cruise control, ‘Everything is fine, Captain,’ and now we’ve run into this big turbulence.”