As the Dominion Post insists on publishing the partisan views of former National Party Chief of Staff Richard Long every Tuesday (The Long View) under the guise of political comment, I am henceforth launching The Wide View, the hopelessly partisan views of me, a former staff member of the Prime Minister’s office, coming to you every Tuesday.
This morning Mr Long devotes his column (seemingly not available on-line) to adding to the media hubub expressing dismay about Labour’s apparent strategy of attacks on John Key. The shrillness of the response to questions being raised about Key’s business dealings and his on-going confusion as to where he lives is remarkable. ‘Play the ball not the man’, Fairfax editorials across the country have exhorted. But hang on- it is not as if this has never happened before. National MPs delighted in pushing the case for David Parker’s resignation from Cabinet over some form filling lapses in the early 90s. Even this weekend we have Judith Collins (she of the ‘pervert’ allegations against David Benson Pope) looking very much like she is playing the drag queen rather than the ball, if you pardon the expression. Also lets not forget it was Mr Key who brought up the murky dealings around Equiticorp.
The media also lapped up the spurious line that because Pete Hodgson happened to be speaking in the general debate about Mr Key, he can’t possibly be the Minister of Health at the same time. For those that missed it Pete managed to make a significant announcement about free doctor visits for the under 6s.
Credibility matters in politics. If playing the man consists of dragging up details of family or personal life then that is in my view wrong and out of bounds. If it is about the person’s attachment to truth and ethics, then that is important stuff. If there was a problem with Labour using this material (much of it already in the media) it is that there is simply not enough to it for it be damaging to Mr Key. That represents a minor tactical failure, not the demise of decency as we know it.
For me, the most interesting recent comment on John Key came from Hone Harawira in TVNZ’s profile of him on Sunday. In response to a question about Helen Clark and John Key courting the Maori Party he said;
…everybody calls her Aunty Helen, but I can’t see anybody calling him Uncle John. He is a smiling snake. He smiles a lot, he’s charasmatic, but none of his policies in respect of Maori have changed since Don Brash.
Credibility matters, and despite John Key’s desperate maneouvrings to adopt more centrist policies, the gloss is wearing off. Hone can see it, will the media?.
I’m also weary of the commentary of former-partisans now reborn as columnists. I’d rather they didn’t pretend independence and simply made their points without obscuring their politics.
Key’s leadership, while safe, is not yet meaningful. He is currently simply not-Helen but has yet to establish himself in his own right. The personal commentary is almost in lieu of a policy discussion. He may well now be more shy of policy discussions having made such a mess of the trans-Tasman complementary medicines debate.
I don’t mind partisan commentary, I just wish it was identified as such.
What worries me much more is the lack of anything approaching perspective or historical context in political journalism. Aside from rare exceptions, we just get reheated talking points - and that applies generally in stories that are in favour of the government just as much as to those critical of it.
Is it actually too hard (or just too expensive) to ask for decent political commentary and analysis, as well as straight news reporting, in New Zealand??