Premier Dr. Ewart Brown took to the Internet airwaves yesterday to defend his own performance and that of his Government – and to take a swipe at his critics.

Clearly part of his goal in doing so was to be able to speak directly to the public without the "interference" of the media. For the public's benefit, we are also publishing his statement in full on this page.

Still, it is worth analysing just what Dr. Brown is saying. It seems pretty clear that he is trying to have it both ways.

Dr. Brown claims that the record of the Government since it was re-elected last December is strong.

Passage of education reform laws, the beginning of free public transport, improvements in the HIP programme and progress on plans for Future Care – although nothing substantive has come to the public yet – all show that Government is working hard at fulfilling its election promises, he said.

That's all to the good, although in reality, as Dr. Brown admits, much remains to be done. First, many of the promises made by the Progressive Labour Party in 2007 have now been qualified. It is not at all clear that public transport will be free to all. Day Care for children will now be means tested. And while this newspaper supports much of the education reform plan, it is still unproven. Future Care, which sounds admirable, is still not costed, and the betting here is that the costs will be immense.

That does not mean that many of these programmes will not succeed. But it is early days to be declaring victory

Dr. Brown also moved to affirm the PLP's commitment to labour, adding, in the political understatement of the year after the march on Parlimaent, that "we may be at odds from time to time".

In the meantime, there are signs that the economy is weakening, as the Premier admitted.

He went on to claim that in the coming months the "combined Opposition", his catch-all phrase for the United Bermuda Party and the media, will try to blame "this Government for an international economic downturn from which Bermuda is not immune".

Nothing could be further from the truth. Clearly the Government, and Bermuda, have no control over the rising price of oil, the international credit crisis, or the general downturn in the US economy in particular.

The point that this newspaper has made and will continue to make is that Dr. Brown and his Government cannot have it both ways.

You can't claim credit for the performance of the economy, or the recovery in tourism, at a time when oil prices and inflation were low and the global economy was strong, but then take no responsibility when inflation worsens and economies weaken.

If the tourism recovery for which Dr. Brown has taken so much credit was really based on cheap airfares and a strong US economy, then he should admit as much. That's not to say that Dr. Brown and his Ministry had nothing to do with tourism's improvements in 2008. But he cannot now say that he has no power to reverse the decline, as he appears to be doing.

Equally, this newspaper and others have been warning for months that the Bermuda economy was overheated, that the Island's costs were too high and that if steps were not taken, then the Island was heading for a fall.

But the Government did little then to rein in growth and continued to expand public sector spending, thus contributing to the problem.

Now that the economy is weakening, Dr. Brown wants the public to believe that it is due to external factors alone.

The Premier may wish to blame all of this on arcane media conspiracies. He can accuse the media of engaging in the "politics of personal destruction".

But the public has always been told that he judges people on their performance. The Premier was praised for his performance as Minister of Tourism when it was doing well. Now that it is not, he won't take responsibility.