Tsipras: Phantasos, Morpheus and Phobetor - all in one

In his election campaign, Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, looked more like Phantasos, the god of fake dreams full of illusions. After he won the elections on Jan. 25 ? and a historic referendum on July 5 ? he looked more like Morpheus, the winged god of dreams who could take human form in dreams. These days he rather looks like Phobetor, the personification of nightmares ? the ancient figure who created frightening dreams and could take the shape of any animal.  

Dreaming is not always bad. Bob Dylan composed music from his dreams. The planet Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in a dream. Albert Einstein ascribed the theory of relativity to a dream he had as a young boy. And Thomas Edison credited his discovery of electricity to his dreams. Mr. Tsipras, sadly, does not fall into the same category of notable men. If he was not too unintellectual during his ?Phantasos? days, he was either too ideology-blind or dishonest to his nation.  

At times when even a Greek cat strolling down the streets in Psirri would sense that there was something fundamentally wrong about the Greek economy, Mr. Tsipras promised that he would ditch austerity and renegotiate bailout with the European heavyweights. He promised to create 300,000 new jobs in the private, public and social sectors. He promised a hefty rise in the minimum wage. There were more rosy pledges in his ?Phantasos? days.  

He promised 300,000 households under the poverty line 300 kWh electricity per month and food subsidies. Tax on heating fuel would be scrapped. He would reinstate a bonus payment for pensioners receiving less than 700 euros a month, and free medical care and free medical insurance to the jobless. 

Nice promises. Just like the inherently religious...