Entrelacos

Em entrevista, Dilma exibe exemplar da Folha com reportagem sobre a montagem do dossiê com despesas do ex-presidente FHC

Dilma and the goat

Apr 3rd 2008 | SÃO PAULO
From The Economist print edition

The pros and cons of Lula's top aide - AP

The mother of growth acceleration

AS POLITICAL branding goes, “Mother of the PAC” (Programme for Accelerated Growth) is not the snappiest. For Dilma Rousseff, though, this title just might provide a route to Brazil's highest office in 2010.

She is “head of the civil household”, or chief of staff for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In recent weeks she has been touring the country with Lula, standing next to building projects and looking bountiful. But now she is taking cover from a convoluted political affair involving ministers' use of their corporate credit cards.

When introduced by the previous government, ministerial credit cards were designed to cut down on paperwork for spending on small items and to increase openness. In February it became clear that some current ministers had been having too much fun with them. The champion spender, the minister for racial equality, Matilde Ribeiro, lost her job and Congress set up an inquiry into their abuse.

The government decided that attack was the best form of defence. It said that spending by ministers in the previous government would be examined too, to show that they had been just as bad. Somehow the bills for the credit card in the name of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula's predecessor, found their way into the press.

They did not reveal anything spectacular, but there were some groceries and other small personal items that should not have been there. The information probably came from Ms Rousseff's office. She denies leaking it, and has phoned Mr Cardoso's wife to apologise for the mishap.

Mrs Cardoso was apparently very nice about it, but her husband's party will not be so forgiving. Ms Rousseff's predecessor, José Dirceu, was forced out, accused of orchestrating bribes to members of Congress to keep Lula's legislative coalition together.

Though the charges against Ms Rousseff are far less serious, the opposition will try to exploit them. Attacking Lula, who gets more popular every time pollsters ask about him, has not worked well. Attacking his most powerful minister, and the nearest thing he has to an anointed successor, is much easier.

Since the accusation against her is indirect, Ms Rousseff is likely to survive. She has an interesting past (she was once a Trotskyist, holds a doctorate and, like many of Brazil's senior politicians, was blacklisted by the military government of 1964-85).

She is impressive up close, mixing personal charm with firmness and an evident grasp of technical detail. But she is not yet a viable candidate for the 2010 presidential election. She is little known outside politically attentive circles.

Indeed, some think that Lula is pushing Ms Rousseff now only to switch his affections later. “You know the story about the man who puts a goat in your living room and then offers to negotiate with you to remove it?” asks Bolívar Lamounier, a political consultant, somewhat ungallantly.

Ms Rousseff will need to become mother to a lot more of the government's spending if she is to become the negotiator.