Sleezy, Repulsive, Lying -- Wonderful ???

They dress in Italian designer suits, have personal groomers on staff, wield enormous power, cut dashing figures and are billionaires to boot. Yet, they have a reputation for sleaze -- wheeling dealing, bending the law, decadence, and lying. They are the leaders of the new administration in Pakistan -- Asif ZardariAsif Zardari, President, and Salman Taseer, Governor of the "Big Brother" province of Punjab.

Many an educated Pakistani has a visceral repulsion to both. They are viewed as unprincipled rabble rousers. Yet what do the opinions of some stiff elites matter anyway. Both have landed in their offices riding a tidal wave of popular support for the party of the late Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto.

A generation ago her father Zulfiqar AliZulfiqar Ali Bhutto inspired the poor and disenfranchised -- white collar laborers, peasants, and street vendors -- to demand respect. On the international front, he inspired vassal Muslim states to stand up to Superpowers and launched a nuclear weapon's program. It is the shadow of this larger-than-life personality that even now invigorates and energizes the poor masses of Pakistan living at less than two dollars a day.

So sleazy or repulsive or lying or whatever -- the people have spoken, and like an old Pakistani saying goes -- that has the power of God. There is something wonderful about that!