Timing in politics is so important. If you are patient and strategic you can end up as leader. Hastiness and unbridled ambition lead would-be kings to miss their thrones.
By creating the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and leaving the Free National Movement (FNM) history may show that Branville McCartney ultimately made the wrong move at the wrong time, preventing him from ever achieving his great dream of being our prime minister.
McCartney left the FNM in March 2011. He was the Bamboo Town MP and a junior minister in Hubert Ingraham's Cabinet. By all accounts, the young man had a bright future. He was well spoken, charismatic, good looking - these being some of the necessary superficial traits for success in politics.
McCartney gave the usual reasons for leaving, saying he needed to follow his conscience, etc. But the truth was that he no longer was able to restrain his ambitions under the rule of Ingraham.
His departure had a consequence. Ingraham, a man who does not take political slights lightly, cut up the Bamboo Town constituency in the 2012 election. It was not the same seat McCartney won five years earlier. That factor, and having to face three opponents, made McCartney a third-place finisher in the race to retain his seat. The winner, Renward Wells, a new Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) convert, ended up with nearly twice the number of votes as McCartney.
Looking back, if McCartney had humbled himself, stayed with the FNM and Ingraham had left the old Bamboo Town intact, he would have won his seat. He would have been one of the few FNMs to make it to the House of Assembly. Just winning would have made McCartney someone considered to succeed Ingraham as leader.
Where he is now
McCartney's DNA won 8.5 percent of the vote in the last general election - an admirable effort for a new party. But that tally was not enough to win any seats.
So, Bran is in the political wilderness. He is not a member of Parliament. He is not a senator. He is not in Cabinet. The well-liked politician has been relegated to issuing press releases and holding press conferences out of his law office. But is this enough to keep the party relevant in the eyes of voters?
The truth is that the DNA is fueled more by a negative than a positive. It is a New Providence-based protest movement against the leadership of the two main parties and their leaders.
In the run-up to the 2012 election, the DNA's great message was, "If you are tired of Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie, and the FNM and the PLP, come with us." The party's message is quite similar today. All you have to do is insert the name Minnis for Ingraham in that slogan.
Rather than being a party to choose, the DNA's identity is defined by the desire of the Bahamian people to vote against the status quo.
The limitation of being a protest movement
Being a New Providence-based protest movement will not make the DNA the next government of The Bahamas. The party may get a few more votes if the two unpopular leaders of the two main parties, Christie and Minnis, remain. But a bump up from 8.5 percent to 12 percent of the vote would make little difference in the DNA's status.
Bahamians are deeply conservative people. Regionally we were late to independence. We voted against women's rights in the 2002 referendum. We are afraid to vote to end gender discrimination now.
The last time we had a third party make an impression was when the opposition coalition fractured in the lead-up to the 1977 general election. The Bahamas Democratic Party (BDP), led by J. Henry Bostwick, came out as the official opposition, with the FNM placing third.
McCartney's movement is different. It is not part of an established broad-based coalition. The DNA is about McCartney's ambition and disgruntlement with the current political choices.
Is the DNA still relevant? As it stands today, only as a spoiler in New Providence. The party has no traction in the Family Islands. McCartney has not shown since the general election the ability as a leader to significantly expand his party with well-know talent and capacity.
When he announced months ago that Rupert Roberts, one of the wealthiest Bahamians, joined the DNA, momentum could have been gained by subsequent high-profile additions. This has not happened.
Our democracy is expanded when people like McCartney come forward to challenge the established players. Winning, however, requires more than ambition. The DNA is nowhere near winning at this time - it might not even be near being able to win a seat.
A showing at the next general election where the DNA attains a respectable minority vote and no seats would all but end the party. Its leader's star would dim as a result too. The young man so many like would then be a middle-aged, two-time loser who was unable to transform his passion into votes.
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