What to do when you are the First Lady of Poland after your husband is no longer president?
If you are Hilary Clinton then you might try and get your husband’s old job. If you are Barbara Bush you sink into obscurity.
But if you are Jolanta Kwasniewska, wife of Aleksander Kwasniewski, who recently retired undefeated after two terms as president, you turn yourself into a fashion and lifestyle guru.
Jolanta is going to be Poland’s answer to Martha Stewart (who comes from Polish stock, did you know?).
Mrs. Kwasniewska has agreed to co-host a fashion and beauty show on TVN Style, a cable only channel aimed at adult females.
My girlfriend was the brand manager of that station when it launched a few years ago. Since then it has done moderately and is planning a re-launch to regain some momentum.
Kwasniewska is a prime asset in increasing viewers to the station.
She is actually on the television as I type this.
But it’s a slightly strange thing for Jolanta to choose to do. She could have been president of Poland.
A couple of years ago, before the presidential election last autumn when ex-communist Aleksander Kwasniewski came to the end of his second term as president, the opinion polls showed a clear favourite for the next president: Jolanta.
People like her. But they also liked President Kwasniewski, who seemed to have support even among the old Solidarity supporters.
That ended towards the end of his rule when his popularity slipped after getting semi-involved in the ubiquitous ex-communist corruption scandals.
Jolanta flirted for a while with the idea. But in the end it was Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz who picked up the ex-communist baton…only to promptly find himself embroiled (set up?) in another ex-communist corruption scandal.
From president to lifestyle ‘expert’. How the mighty have been seduced by ‘celebrity’. Her husband is teaching at the (Catholic) university in Georgetown. Jolanta is sitting on a sofa in a television studio.
And what of her style? The photo above must have been taken circa 1997. Hence the skirt length.
But she’s not bad, is she?
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Jolanta Kwasniewska – TV fashion guru
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Beatroot, all the best this Easter!
DBN
And you...
Coming from polish stock myself, I can offer one reason why Jolanta did not pursue the same political course as Hollary, I mean Hillary.
Judging from my folks' friends and associates from the "old country", Poles are generally still a paternalistically based society.
A woman leading the country? Not a chance.
BTW, Jolanta is a babe.
"Coming from polish stock myself, I can offer one reason why Jolanta did not pursue the same political course as ... Hillary.
Judging from my folks' friends and associates from the "old country", Poles are generally still a paternalistically based society.
A woman leading the country? Not a chance."
I think the best reason that she didn't go into politics (or hasn't yet) is that she's not a politician and has no experience in elected office at any level. I would also assume she lacks managerial experience. Basically, her pseudo-popularity for the office (which would have evaporated quickly had she actually declared) was based on her inexperience and the idea that her husband would be around to keep her out of trouble.
I think she was a fine first lady and represented the country very well in that ceremonial capacity, but that doesn't make her presidential material.
There are female politicians that with the right preparation could be president (though that position works best when it's mostly a figurehead position as with Kwaśniewski, Wałęsa tried to be an American style president and was a disaster). In Poland as in many European countries, the prime minister is where the action is (or chairman of the largest political party if his initials are JK).
Hanna Suhocka was PM! She's now Polish diplomat in the Vatica.
But you are right Mike about her pseudo popularity. She was the anti-political candidate. and then we got the heart surgeon. the only woman in the presidential race was that old girl from the Democratic party. Not a looker, like my Jolanta.... swoon, gurgle...
By the way, the programme was the most vacuous piece of nonsense I have ever seen in my life. Why do they patronize women TV viewers like that?
If she follows the Babs Bush route then soon she'll re-emerge to make some rediculous comment about impoverished polish people and entrance into the EU "really working well for them". Hmm.. actually Barbara's Katrina comments still look far worse.
Post a Comment