Who Would Want To Be In Politics!
John Key has my admiration for the way he is publicly handling the issue of ‘retaining jobs’ for New Zealanders.
Within weeks of leading from the front at the ‘jobs summit’ where he looked great urged employers to do all within their power to retain their workforce, he is now placed in the embarrassing position of defending the decision of TVNZ to make some 90 people redundant so that it can meet its required dividend payment to the Government.
Getting his head around the key messages to talk about both situations publicly while not appearing hypocritical is no mean feat.
My perception is that he is pulling it off, in part because he still comes across in public as being honest, earnest and facing up to the issues.
When Parliament first reconvened, John started to develop a reputation among media for being a bit of a word and meaning ‘mangler’. He is no dominant, razor sharp Helen; or silken, motor-mouthed Michael.
However, what John lacks in the way of a persuasive tongue is compensated for by his honesty, believability and his freshness.
Conversely, Phil Goff struggles to make any cut through in the believability stakes because we have been seeing and hearing from him for 20 plus years. Try as he might, his theme that Labour ‘lost contact’ with ordinary New Zealanders and it is now on a journey of ‘reconnecting’ just does not make it in the credibility stakes.
In the months ahead John’s challenge is to retain his believability as the nation becomes more exposed to him. It is a far easier challenge than the one facing Phil, which is to prevent himself becoming a stop gap leader before a new leader emerges 12 to 18 months ahead of the next election.
Tags: election, government, Helen Clark, John Key, Michael Cullen, Parliament, Phill Goff, redundancies, TVNZ