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During the three years between Franco's death (November 20, 1975) and the voters' ratification of the constitution (December 7, 1978), Juan Carlos liberalized Spain, including reinstituting the legal status of the Communist and Socialist parties, opening up the press, creating an intermim parliament (to set up the eventual form of government they have now - akin to the UK and other parliamentary democracies), and curtailing the influence of the Catholic church (a powerful arm of Franco's rule), among other numerous reforms. He brought about more change than even Obama could hope to attain.
Juan Carlos was an unknown quantity when he assumed power. The Left feared he would be a mere puppet of Franco's loyalists, which included large factions within the military, the Guardia Civil, the large landowners, and the church. The Right feared he would liberalize the country too much, too soon. After so many years of fascist rule, the Spanish people quickly learned that Juan Carlos would hew a conciliatory path of incremental yet steady reform. In less time than could have been reasonably expected, he won the support of rank and file Spaniards. He made the Right far more uncomfortable than the Left, just for the liberalization measures noted above. He did not flippantly "let them get away". The Francoists' marginalization from power, and their supreme displeasure that Juan Carlos would not maintain the status quo or do their bidding, was no small punishment in itself. Although there were some small "democratic" reforms enacted by Franco in 1973, these were mainly in reaction to the global oil crisis, and somewhat symbolic in intent (Spain desperately wanted to be accepted into the modern European realm). Jusn Carlos knew those kinds of reforms would be insufficient to meet the real challenge of modernizing the nation, so symbolism and cosmetic reform was being scrapped for concrete progress. Spain was embarking on a great experiment, and many of the abuses of Franco and the accompanying wounds were much too close to the surface to allow such rapid exposure and subsequent retaliation. At such a delicate and unprecedented time, sectional and ideological factions could not afford to be roiled - the memories of the Civil War were much too painful and recent. For the time, Juan Carlos had to make moving forward first priority. As it was, he took a major risk with opening these wounds when he legalized the Communist and Socialist parties. Still, it had to be done in order to being real democracy to the nation. In a sense, allowing them to exist again, with voting power and representation in parliament, was a fair compromise in exchange for delaying any kind of trials or proceedings regarding Franco-era abuses. I realize that this pragmatic and realistic analysis in anathema to the Ivory soap purity demanded of DU's beloved revolutionary sweethearts, but so it goes.
Many of the challenges Juan Carlos faced over 30 years ago still complicate the Iberian landscape. Beyond the Basque/ETA separatist agenda, the several autonomous regions of Spain, especially Catalonia, have factions of their own which constantly challenge Spanish unity. It is also safe to say that the Franco's ghost still lingers within the Guardia Civil (usually under scrutiny by Amnesty International for human rights abuses), and that the tensions and wounds of the Civil War have yet to fully heal, 70 years later.
While I understand the impulse to contrast Bush to Obama, I don't think facile historical analogies work well. The contrasts are self-evident, and need no refinement. Still, if one must contrast the two, you can do much better than the example of mid-70's Spain. Se trata de manzanas y naranjas.
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