Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Bitter sweet nostalgia and a prediction I stand by

From my archives, a post written just prior to the 2017 election:

Jacinda versus Bill: TV One Debate

Jacinda would be great cast as the humble, charismatic  up-and-coming politician who wins hearts and minds. Tom Hanks would play the male equivalent.

But this is an election. Not Hollywood.

Bill wouldn't be cast by any director. He gets tongue-twisted, he misses his cues and he resides very much in the head space where facts are a given and don't need ardent defence or advocacy. They speak for themselves - thank goodness. Because he does't.

But on a more subtle level, Bill versus Jacinda found a perfect performance in him. There was not a skerrick of anything  unsightly or ugly. He looks like the man who continues to do the business; who gets what aspiring NZers are about, and is respectful. We might have preferred more sass and sparks but that wasn't going to happen.

Bill is a bit of a bumbler. The crew had to contain him when the show ended. He went to move away and then realised he was supposed to stay still. Is that the man who can't wait to get out of the limelight or the man who needs to move on to the next task?

Personally I just think it's the man who has a job to do and finds all of the media stuff an unwelcome intrusion and burden.

That's the kind of character I would to prefer running the country.

Let's never forget that as Minister for Social Welfare Steve Maharey spent his period in office defending welfare dependency. Bill English turned that on its head. He sought to understand what drove it and what would reduce it. English goes deep when it comes to social deprivation.

Jacinda would return to pulling the levers that drive it.


3 comments:

david said...

Ah but Jacinda had a vision - eradicate child poverty. She doesn't need to have a plan like Bill had - in fact it doesn't matter if the vision is achieved - the important thing is that we care. You have to realize that what Bill was doing was targeting early intervention to avoid cost later - see - he was just worrying about the cost. Typical National party.

Oi said...

First a disclaimer/admission - I detest all politicians. Its just that I detest some worse than others!
That said, I agree David. Bill could have contained the cost easily enough - Just kept on maintaining the 9 year financial freeze on health, Law and Order etc would have done it.

From a purely selfish point of view, the fact that Adern has been at the tiller has been good for me and others in my age group. Her lot resisted the outrage of the National shambles [lets face it - thats what it was] and kept a tight rein on the borders and more or less kept at bay a disease that is a sure death sentence for me.

The election was Nationals to lose and they did it with gusto. I really hope that Collins team put their knives back in the drawer, get behind her, push her forward instead of stabbing, hold Aderns team up to scrutiny and field an alternative and coherent team in 3 years.

The one shining light that came from this election, is the Greens wont be part of a coalition govt and their economic sabotage can be contained

david said...

No Oi i am afraid you are mistaken, as were, unfortunately, most New Zealanders. Cindy did not save you. I don't criticize her for what she did, because there was a lot of contradictory advice out there - we didn't know. However I do feel she is misrepresenting her effectiveness when she says we went hard and early and implies that our low case rate was her doing. NZ followed others but got a lot of things wrong. We were lucky. But we didn't control the border until far too late, and we imposed unnecessary hardship on our citizens by arbitrary restrictions. She countered criticism of the current regimen by saying everyone else's suggestions are 'dangerous' while she has a sound plan. She hasn't told us what this sound plan is, suggesting to me that she doesn't actually have one.

My disclaimer. I am also in the age group that is apparently vulnerable and i have a heart condition. I was in Wuhan in January this year and i returned to NZ with flu-like symptoms that lasted far longer than normal. However as it was more than 14 days since I had been in China I was declined testing. But I agree with you re the Greens.