If Sumar's act already looked bad for Podemos, the conclusion is that it was even much worse. Yolanda Díaz now flies without "guardianship" or "debts" -(in)direct darts at Iglesias-, but also without looking back for those left behind. She did not make any explicit reference to the purple party in her speech, nor any gesture of recognition or that could be read as an outstretched hand to redirect the stormy relationship. On the contrary, she proclaimed her independence to lead the space to the left of the left, even she challenged the PSOE.
The novelty on Sunday was not his burial of Podemos, a confirmation, but that "I want to be the first president of Spain" that points to Pedro Sánchez, his guarantor in the motion of censure. Díaz had the support of a former PSOE deputy, trans activist, Carla Antonelli, who left those acronyms not long ago; She saw among her guests a former CCOO general secretary who was a PSOE deputy, Antonio Gutiérrez, and was received by a celebrity, Jorge Javier Vázquez, who campaigned with Ángel Gabilondo in the 2021 Madrid elections.
About Díaz, socialist sources warned from this newspaper, a week ago: «His speech does not differ practically from that of the president, it is a risky bet to join the fate of the PSOE to his figure. Remember what happened with Manuela Carmena, they played to promote a person well regarded by the left, and that weakened the socialists in Madrid ». That alert was a confirmation yesterday, together with the free takeoff of Podemos.
He barely left an isolated message of concord in purple code: "There are many people left to add" and "we are going to join all of them." In contrast, he overwhelmed the leaders present with affection and offered his moment of acclaim to candidates such as Mónica García and Rita Maestre, from Más Madrid, and Joan Ribó, from Compromís, who will compete against Podemos, and also against the PSOE, of course, in the May elections.
Podemos was not only cornered. He saw how the greatest reference in that political space, at its media peak, complimented three rivals with a campaign tone. Those gestures, cheered, enraged Podemos. Juan Carlos Monedero: «She is a minister of United We Can and has campaigned for parties that compete against United We Can. That is noise. Thunderous". The party officially opted for silence. No comment.
Díaz promulgated a new style of exercising leadership and understanding politics that breaks with the tradition of Podemos since 2017 and that challenges its instruction manual from top to bottom. Faced with a strategy of permanent offensive and the search for "polarization" or "hardness" -two nouns that he cited in his speech-, he advocated getting rid of the "noise" to do "politics with capital letters" and, he stressed, with " tenderness".
It is a friendly face that Pabloism already ridiculed from Íñigo Errejón when they parted ways, long before breaking up, and which they then dismissed for being "docile" politics.
This is reflected in an evident way in the ideological banners. What is worrisome for Podemos, even for the PSOE, is not what Yolanda Díaz said yesterday, but everything that she did not say. She did not speak to the excess of the "ultra-right" -like Iglesias or Sánchez-, nor did she attack judges, journalists or "sewers". She ignored the war and NATO. She did not insult businessmen and bankers; she asked to share her profits. She also did not allude to the monarchy.
He surpassed the President of the Government in positivism. And he placed Alberto Núñez Feijóo and his economic liberalism as a rival. He presented a social democratic agenda, very PSOE, to "win" a country "for the next decade" and claimed the achievements of a "useful policy" that separates "politicking" - that was for ERC, for the labor reform - and focuses in tangible social transformations. It is not just that Díaz became independent from Podemos. It is that he contested it while he was striding towards Sánchez.
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