Mike Williams blogs on Pundit with the conclusion that we have to do a better job promoting Shearer than we did for Goff.
Can’t disagree with that.
My public disagreement with some of the logic has to wait twenty years, the retirement of colleagues and/or WWIII.
Williams makes some valid points, however it is always easy to make points like this post the event..
For me what is more valid is if in fact he had rigorous debate with you, the strategist for the Labour Party for the campaign?
Because most of the country thought it odd that there was virtually nil promotion of Phil Goff
Sounds like the Labour campaign was a team effort for the strategy. The idea around is that it was some sort of grand design by one person which doesnt seem plausible in the Labour context.
Trevor, Why such internal antagonism? There are despicable elements to the deeply fragmented labour party and this was duly noted by voters who preferred Green Winstons. Speak your mind man, it will assist in the process of opening up your party as an attractive option to future voters.
My two cents are that, alot of Joe averages in the street that I came into contact with on the Campaign trail, said that while major policy had some sway, that also took whether they thought the leader would make a good, presentable, effective PM. Personally, and I can say this after the fact, I think that Goff could have made a good PM but the public never had the opportunity to decide that, because Labour didn’t present him as one. They did present a selection of policies, (which I personally disagree with, but that is a mute point), but the saying personality over policy, is a good one, but it ignores that some people care about personality and are emotional in decision making and there’s no point fighting that.
Speaking as a typical centrist voter with no political axe to grind in either direction my view is that Labour has a lot of work to do to win my vote back in 2014. The highly publicised leadership scrap did little to reassure me that bitter factions still exist within the party & the trade unions still have too strong an influence as witnessed by the party list. At a time when the likes of Stuart Nash & Kelvin Davies are sorely needed they have been been surplanted by MPs of far lower calibre. I also doubt the depths of talent to deal with a very tricky three years on the international front. Sure, the Nats have not done a perfect job 2008-2011 but the perception rightly or wrongly is that they were dealt a bad hand and have coped pretty well particularly with the added complication of Christchurch. Better the devil that you know.
I trust that this post is not moderated, I do represent a section of the electorate from which Labour badly needs to regain support.
Hasn’t WWIII started yet ?
If labour severed all ties with Unions, it would be national.