When Michel Temer took over Brazil’s presidency in May, many hoped he could overcome the political gridlock, corruption scandals and economic obstacles that have hobbled Latin America’s biggest country.
But seven months into the job, Brazil’s problems look just as intractable as they did when Temer and his Congressional allies orchestrated the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, his predecessor.
Like a sequel to her administration, Temer’s is already beset by scandal, an unwieldy legislature and an economy that risks entering a third year of recession.
Instead of hope and change, after 13 years of increasingly feckless government by the leftist Workers Party, even those who enabled Temer’s ascent fear more of the same.
“We already have a crisis of confidence as bad as it was with Dilma,” says Cristovam Buarque, a veteran senator scorned by fellow leftists for supporting Rousseff’s impeachment. “There is no indication the country has a way out of this mess.”
A quick fix would be rare in Brazil’s chaotic, multiparty democracy.
After all, Temer, as vice president, was part of Rousseff’s administration and, critics say, helped create the mess.
His Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), a shapeshifting mix of conservatives and centrists, was a key part of the Workers Party coalition.
And Temer, a backroom dealmaker who calls his specialty “arbitrating conflict,” is not the commandeering, inspirational saviour that many Brazilians crave.
“This is someone known for accommodation, not for leading with ideas, certainty and strength,” says Rafael Cortez, a political scientist at Tendencias, a Sao Paulo consulting firm.
The president and his aides say they remain confident they can pull Brazil from the morass.
But many Brazilians are growing impatient, with memories fresh of an economic boom that preceded the Rousseff administration.
The recession is proving relentless, pushing unemployment toward a 12% level unseen in over a decade.
Last week, government data showed the economy contracted for a seventh consecutive quarter. 

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