THE confusion on account of President Zardari's latest round of shadow boxing in front of a gathering of party workers and a hapless awam in Faisalabad, aimed at showing that he has the heart to step out of his bunker and take on opponents, continues to prevail. If that was an attempt at displaying charisma, copying the party's founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he did not succeed. Basically, he was beating about the bush. The speech was a repetition of his address at Naudero, where he had warned that anyone daring to cast an eye on democracy would be dealt with severely. It remains anybody's guess who is his enemy, busy hatching conspiracies against democracy and the PPP. It has been quite some time now, but he has yet to unmask the hidden face, the ominous monster working against him. The media and the judiciary are friends of democracy and since the President has already clarified that he is not averse to positive criticism, it follows that these organs of the state won't be on his list of potential enemies. Likewise, there is one party in the opposition; the PML-N which has sworn not to derail the system or topple the PPP-led dispensation. Who else is left? No one. Hence the confusion. He had better grope for the right words and answers because his fighting talk is making everyone ill at ease. After venting out his fury at the 'conspirators' he turned towards another intangible enemy: poverty, speaking at length how he would deal with it. The roti, kapra and makan which he promised to give to the people are actually things that have been taken away from them. Inflation has broken all records and the masses hardly have enough to eat much less shelter and clothing. His statement that it was the right of the people of Faisalabad to have electricity was a sardonic one with a tinge of irony. Clearly, he was rubbing salt on the people's wounds in Faisalabad who have been hit hard by the power crisis. Popularly known as the Manchester of Pakistan for its textile mills, the industrial hub is now on the brink of an economic collapse. By saying that he would lower the electricity tariffs in the days to come, he fought shy of telling the public that he was going to give them an electric shock. The RPPs which the government plans to install would raise the rates by 45 percent. President Zardari has to come clean on a number of issues from restoring powers to the Parliament and the PM to following up on his words and promises with definite moves. But most important this conduct, unbecoming of a head of the state, must be given up.