In just seven months, former -- and perhaps future -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appears to have undergone a remarkable evolution. In September's snap election, he will stand for the opposite of what he defended in January, when he came to power. Yet the qualities that made that possible may make him a good leader for Greece going forward.
Tsipras's trajectory took him from the Thessaloniki Program, on which his party, Syriza, campaigned for election last fall and winter, through the tumultuous negotiations with Greece's creditors and finally the bailout program, an act of economic capitulation that split Syriza and forced Tsipras to resign. The two documents are ideological opposites, and few politicians could have gone the vast distance between them as quickly as Tsipras did.
