Chris Trotter so has the knives out for Helen Clark it is almost enough to make you feel some sympathy for her. Almost. But I don't see Helen as a figure who would appreciate my sympathy so I'd best save it for a more deserving cause.Trotter writes in today's Dominion Post;
"....the government's catastrophic [poll] numbers are being driven by Ms Clark's unpopularity not the party's....she was Labour's greatest asset, the wind beneath its wings. She has now become the lump of lead on its back.....Miss Clark is no Bill Clinton: she cannot look her supporters in the eye and say,'I feel your pain.' At heart, the prime minister is a diligent and rather uninspiring policy wonk, who has never really understood that politics is not about the head, but the heart....Labour's caucus needs to get its head around this - and soon. Because the longer it delays replacing Ms Clark as leader, the more time it is allowing voters to convince themselves (if they have not already done so) that Mr Key is the prime minister they are looking for."
Are Trotter's assertions honest or are they merely part of some ploy to save the Left? It could be a bob each way. If voters really do vote with their emotions to the fore, then his constant kicking of Clark turns her into an underdog and don't Kiwis love an underdog. Alternatively if he spooks Labour MPs enough he might succeed in causing a change of leadership. There is a third scenario too. That nobody gives a rat's arse for what Trotter has to say on the matter.
Around the blogosphere you would have to be blind not to notice that many commentors religiously loathe Clark. They seem to be mostly men. Their obsession with her personal life and looks is very unpleasant to behold. I have never understood this viciousness. What Clark stands for - socialism - is well worthy of stout and sustained attack but getting in a lather over what Clark looks like, or sounds like for that matter, is a waste of energy.
My husband doubts Clark can come back now because that's just not what typically happens. Politically he has more nous than I. But I am wondering how useful history or precedent is, for this reason. Clark is a woman. She is a feminist. The first elected female Prime Minister. The last three decades of NZ politics has been so influenced by women that I can't ignore what their reaction to Clark's sudden unpopularity will be. Simply, I wouldn't discount the women's vote swinging in behind Helen (or the Greens, to shore her up.)
I won't vote for Clark, but I couldn't disrespect someone who does so based on her experience, intelligence and ability to hold her nerve. Unlike Trotter she won't be prematurely....panicking.
4 comments:
At the end of last year Clark still seemed irreplacable. This year the good news stories for Clark, like Hillary's state funeral, have come and gone with no appreciable popularity gains. Now that she is polling below Labour she seems no longer to be their strong suit.
Clark demonstrates a bitterness of spirit that is unbecoming of a Prime Minister. Her studious snubbing of Owen Glenn at the function where he was guest of honour is unprecedented in poor form, although her deliberate bad manners at the the time of the Queen's official visit were offensive enough.
Clark was ungracious in her remarks to Oliver Driver when she was asked if there was anything positive she could say about John Key.
Clark never concedes wrong, but instead embarks on a spiteful tirade against National, or lately the press, using attack as a means of defence.
Your suggestion that women might rally to her support is unlikely. Remember also that a woman's worst enemy is another woman. And women do not appreciate bad manners.
People generally seem to have turned off to Clark's message, perhaps realising that she expects to say as she wishes without being questioned about the veracity of what she is saying. Once people turned off to Jenny Shipley, because she was labelled condescending, National was history. Clark's inability to listen seems to be at that tipping point now, if not already beyond it.
Massive Budget inducements are now imperative for Labour not to be annihilated, although the left will still be the major beneficiary of Labour's vote shedding.
Whether Labour is better off without Clark is debatable, but there appears to be no graceful exit strategy - just an unseemly pass-the-parcel routine should she go. The only credible stand-in might be Michael Cullen.
Whatever happens, any coalition of the left is beginning to look increasingly raggle-taggle. To think we rely on them to run our country when so many facets of our community are disintegrating does not bear thinking about.
2008 is going to be a make-or-break year for all of us.
"Your suggestion that women might rally to her support is unlikely." Nobody likes being wrong but in this case I won't mind if you are right. Notwithstanding I have huge reservations about John Key as Prime Minister leading a majority National government.
A majority National Government is very unlikely.
If such an unlikelihood were to eventuate, National would be hamstrung, to a degree, by the certain knowledge that a very small erosion of support would see a return of a left administration at the following Elections.
MMP will only ever deliver allies to the right of National, a useless scenario for Government right of centre.
Chris Trotter knows the left will rule for most of the next 100 years.
Any reservations you have about a John Key-led majority National Government will be short-lived.
Good post Lindsay. I heartily dislike Clark and have disagreed elsewhere that women are into irrational groupthink and will vote for her just because she is a woman.
It's interesting to see similar personal attacks on Obama. Lord the right are their own worst enemy.
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