The display that Putin puts on for the Russian population is now a part and a feature of his time in power. He looks like he’s come to enjoy what he does, and feels that it empowers the Russian people to believe more in his program of events.
This is a leader making sure that his actions are understood, even if much of what underlies them is already a reality in Russia.
The oxymoron is that Putin feels he has to do this. The scheme of things in Russia is not like here, where a manifesto is rejected and a campaign falls flat out of hand. In their terms, everything is accepted because it comes from the top.
