It happened at 12.30 am in the Congress of Deputies on October 30, 2016. This was the defining moment, an hour and a half before the registration closed. We had written only a few hours before. And that we were just friends then. When he announced it in a press conference, I remember saying to my wife: this is new. What did I see? A president Only that he was the leader of the opposition, he resigned and left. This was the first moment.
My teacher has always taught me that when you need to support a person is not in times of success, but when they are having a hard time. Sánchez resigned as deputy due to conviction that day. And he was left with nothing. He left the seat to become a “grassroots activist”. Not to go against his party and make Mariano Rajoy president. This is how it happened. No little theaters. No posturing. Pure authenticity. I would not be in politics at any price.
Many had to turn to the history books in 2016, as is happening again now, to remember someone resigning. And the reference was always one: the first president, Adolfo Suárez. That farewell in 1981, the year I was born, in that iconic appearance on television, when Suárez says that his departure is more beneficial for Spain than his stay. Both Pedro Sánchez and he share a management of the Government that calmly accepts criticism as well as useless global disqualification, viscerality and personal attack. I give it more than faith. Sánchez is a person of strong principles and convictions.
After the resignation, the victory in the party primaries in 2017, the first winning motion of censure in democracy in 2018, the various electoral victories in 2019, the first progressive coalition government in 90 years and the calamity in more than 100 years: covid, so that later other colleagues would take the witness and build on what has been achieved, not without difficulties. There was a volcano, prices were rampant and the Ukrainian war happened.
The second moment happened when the 23-J elections were called on May 29, 2023. There was another time. After the bad results of the municipal and regional elections of 28-M, taking a step forward. Showing himself as he is to those who know him, unarmoured, bold and determined. These are not easy decisions, but crossroads that a president finds himself in the Moncloa palace. Sánchez is a brave person who knows that there are moments in life when you have to take responsibility. And he did what the automatism of today’s politics would not do, because he thinks reptilianly.
The third moment was on Wednesday, after reading the letter to citizens that he wrote in his own hand. There was humanity, fragility and pain. The president was once again taking risks that overwhelmed any possibility of tactics. And what do you want me to tell you: only from a conception of politics as the occupation of power at any cost can one understand some destructive attitudes and responses to such a sincere and humane exercise. Pedro Sánchez was not born a politician, but a person. Like the rest of his lordships, he is father, husband, brother or son. And it is not only about them, but about all of us and our ideals. Of the country we want and deserve to be. The aim of politics is to improve society. And that is why it is necessary to put some limits on the way of doing politics.
