Alexis Tsipras is not the first former protagonist of our political scene who made a comeback, hoping to persuade citizens that this time around will be (even) better than the previous one.
The Konstantinos Karamanlis who returned from self-imposed exile in Paris in 1974 was very different from the prime minister of 1955-63. Andreas Papandreou, returning as prime minister in 1993, was very different in style and policies from what he had been in the 1980s. Konstantinos Mitsotakis became prime minister in 1990 after many adventures in politics, after first being elected to Parliament in 1946. Antonis Samaras defected from New Democracy and brought down its government in 1993. And yet, 19 years later, as head of ND, he led a coalition government.
We could say that Tsipras has already used up his second chance, as his reelection in September 2015 was with a very different message from that of his election in January of the same year. In effect, though, this is now his second chance, after some years in the wilderness, in the cramming schools of Europe and the United States, as he tries to appear the continuation of the left as well as representing something new, centrist, “patriotic” even.
