| Nobody, it seems, wants to be left out
of Argentina's current boom in television reality shows. After the success of
local versions of "Big Brother" and "Survivor", a camera is now to be{{U}}
(1) {{/U}}in the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada, to film
everything (well, almost){{U}} (2) {{/U}}President Fernando de la Rua
gets{{U}} (3) {{/U}}to. The results will be edited and{{U}} (4)
{{/U}}several times a day,{{U}} (5) {{/U}}the state channel, Canal
7: thus dispell, it is{{U}} (6) {{/U}}, the notion that the president
spends his time twiddling his thumbs to his economy minister, Domingo Cavallo,
runs the country. This is a dangerous strategy. Mr. de la Rua's predecessor, Carlos Menem, was famous for his love of show business, even closing his 1995 presidential campaign{{U}} (7) {{/U}}an appearance on the hit show "Videomatch". In deliberate{{U}} (8) {{/U}}, before his election victory two years{{U}} (9) {{/U}}. Mr. de la Rua{{U}} (10) {{/U}}in television commercials that he was a very boring man. Audiences agree: his appearances last year on several leading talk{{U}} (11) {{/U}}made their ratings fall. Worse, when he decided to make his own appearance on "Videomatch" last December, a member of the audience blamed him and left him{{U}} (12) {{/U}}embarrassed. With a congressional election{{U}} (13) {{/U}}in October, opinion{{U}} (14) {{/U}}suggest that over three-quarters of Argentines{{U}} (15) {{/U}}dissatisfied with Mr. de la Rua. That, says his circle, is at least partly due to his{{U}} (16) {{/U}}portrayal by Freddy Villarreal, an impressionist on "Videomatch", and by leading newspaper cartoonists, such as Nik in La Naeion. Mr. de la Rua's team is apparently pressing the{{U}} (17) {{/U}}to be nicer. But it is unclear whether blanket{{U}} (18) {{/U}}will help the president win{{U}} (19) {{/U}}viewers, or whether they will vote that Fernando should{{U}} (20) {{/U}}the house in 2003 |