Both the national government and City Hall have presented themselves as victims of destabilization in recent days and both could profitably ask themselves if they are not the architects of their own destruction. Nevertheless, Thursday’s escalation of the crossfire yielded an important difference between the two sides — while Kirchner presidencies have been denouncing destabilization since 2003 without clearly identifying anybody, Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández did City Mayor Mauricio Macri the enormous favour of giving the latter’s espionage crisis every appearance of a Kirchner campaign against him by virtually calling for his resignation, saying that United States President Richard Nixon had resigned for less in the Watergate scandal 35 years ago. Fernández thus blundered at various levels. Not only was he historically inaccurate (Nixon ultimately resigned for lying rather than bugging) — by his logic President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner would have to resign as soon as it is demonstrated that any SIDE national intelligence agent is doing his presumed job of electronic surveillance (as numerous people including a previous Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández vow they do). But even if this call for Macri’s resignation is both intentional and crowned with success, Fernández might well be doing the Kirchners a grave disservice because he would thus deprive them of the ideal presidential rival for 2011 — a vulnerable right-winger from a shady business dynasty.

Macri was thus given a perfect opportunity to go on the counteroffensive, accusing a “corrupt” Kirchner administration of seeking to bulldoze City Hall in the same way as the media and the province of Corrientes earlier this week, but he still has plenty to explain. He has allowed an ugly espionage scandal involving his choices to head the new metropolitan police to fester for several weeks without any capacity for damage control, blind to the obvious risks of obstinately sticking to a former Federal Police officer (Jorge Palacios) with enemies in SIDE who could easily feed him to a pro-government judge (who still has Macri at his mercy with his handling of the case). Macri has thus done far more than Aníbal Fernández to bar himself from any presidential candidacy.

But while two dysfunctional administrations hurl charges at each other, the real problems of the people go unresolved — the stillborn metropolitan police is supposed to be fighting crime, not acting as a political football to supply espionage charges. It takes two to tango but this mutually destructive tango is leaving the citizenry without any protection.