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.
