How to look like a winner when you have lost big time
Most people are possibly a bit tired of post-election analysis and there are many more news cycles to come before we begin to look ahead to how National is actually shaping up as a new Government.
But despite the extensive discussion it seems that one major point has been lost on most people, and certainly none of our political commentators seem to have mentioned it. Or perhaps it is so obvious that there is no need to state it.
Has Ms Clark not pulled the most clever segue of her career by announcing her decision to step down from Labour Party leadership on the night of her defeat? This move it seems has completely obscured the fact that Labour got trounced in the election while National, who were led by a smiling assassin (if we believe the negative campaign), had a huge win. It seems there is very little criticism of the campaign run by Labour and the fact that we could all see the negative campaigning to be a wrong move.
The majority of post-election comments regarding Ms Clark have been about her legacy, her leadership and the gracious, clever and magnanimous decision she has made. Her posting to Foreign Affairs further keeps her in the spotlight and provides plenty of opportunity to show the in-roads Labour has made in foreign affairs and diplomatic relations. Could our own Ms Clark perhaps be the next head of the UN?
While personally not a supporter of Ms Clark I have always been a huge admirer of her communication skills. Once again she has managed to set the public agenda herself and get her key messages across no matter what the question or the issue.
Yes, Labour has lost and National has had a huge win. But watch the press in coming weeks and we are sure to see lots more glowing reports on the “legacy” that is Ms Clark.
One wonders if this is a good or a bad thing for the National Party. Certainly it seems that their win is not being held up as such a major achievement after all. There is a feeling of expectations to be met and no need to make such a big deal of it.
On the other hand we have a brand new leader of the Labour Party who is likely to get as much, if not more, air time as possible in coming weeks than our Prime Minister in waiting. We certainly do live in interesting times.
Tags: election, Labour, National, political commentator
November 13th, 2008 at 5:57 am
We each see things through different eyes. It’s inevitable that losing politicians try to write their epitaph before other people do, but no amount of trying by Helen Clark will succeed. There is nothing more “ex” than an “ex-Prime Minister” and Helen Clark has gone from hero to zero in no time at all. A credible legacy takes about a decade to form. Look what happened to Ronald Reagan, or in contrast “The Great Helmsman” Jim Bolger! One gained in stature with years and the other diminished. One or other of these things will happen to Helen Clark. We shall see which it is.
In the meantime Labour’s activities are largely irrelevant, though interesting as a mild curiosity. The big show in town is who will be in the Key Government and how it will operate? John Key is taking us into new territory of coalition government (Helen Clark was supposed to be the past master at this – remember?). The other focus of interest is the “real” state of the economy.
Helen Clark may be trying to control the agenda, but she’s not where its at. that is how politics is a cruel business!!
November 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
For a minute there I thought I was reading David Farrar’s Kiwiblog…
I won’t try and guess the motives behind Helen’s announcement to step down on election night. However my initial feeling would be that after two terms and an extensive career she realises that we are now in a different era in politics. By stepping down now it gives Goff and King the chance to launch headfirst into rebuilding and rebranding the Labour party for this new era in politics. I disagree that there has been little criticism of the ads run by Labour. The NZ Herald (big surprise) ran items on the ‘Two Johns’ ads and constantly criticised their ad spend. I don’t see anything wrong with negative ad campaigning, it is proven to work in narrowing election gaps in the US, hence why John McCain ran so many ads about Bill Ayers in the lead-up to their election. Labour did manage to close the gap slightly before the election possibly due to these ads.
Helen deserves a hefty amount of post-election coverage. She was New Zealand’s first elected female Prime Minister, her government presided over many positive changes for New Zealand – civil unions, prostitution law reform, Kiwisaver and not to mention free trade agreements with two of the world’s super powers.
Geoff, I don’t think Helen is trying to control the agenda at all. The biased right-leaning mainstream media are absolutely gushing over John Key and have already started to lampoon Labour’s new leadership. We can count on them to direct the agenda firmly to the right over the summer during the honeymoon period of the new government. I’m sure we will see many more front page kitten photos in the Herald.
Helen has certainly not gone from hero to zero, already there are several Facebook groups setup dedicated to remembering and even bringing back the legend that was Helen. I hope to see her remembered in same vein as David Lange and Michael Joseph Savage.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:54 am
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4759697a1861.html <– here’s an example of what you’re saying Jane; story on Stuff – “I’ll enjoy Helen’s lasting gifts”
November 13th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I would hardly consider that piece from Rosemary McLeod overly positive about Helen. And big suprise she makes an offensive remark about gay people at the end of her piece – again.