Jim SpearsHatred in Australian Politics
June 4th 2008 14:32
I'm a hater. Part of the tribal-ness of politics is to really dislike the other side with intensity. And the more I see of them the more I hate them. I hate their negativity. I hate their narrowness. I hate the way, for instance, John Howard tries to appeal to suburban values when I know that he hasn't got any real answers to the problems and challenges we face. I hate the phoniness of that.Mark Latham was always saying great stuff like that. Sure it made him seem like an extra from a Liberal anti-union ad but it made you think. For example is it ok to hate so long as it is “correctly” channelled? The answer is Manchester United. Labor’s verbose haters usually rise through unions but Latham started in local politics, had a shot at state politics then entered federal politics.
So politically he ends up like Frankenstein’s monster; cobbled together from tribal hatred, which seems narrow but isn’t, and various Third Way concepts. Third Way politics aims for the centre mass where interests overlap. Not too far left, nor too far right. Leaning right Latham outsourced government services at Liverpool council and leaning left he’ll forever be associated with Peter Garrett’s conversion from crazy hippy to serious politician. Third Way politics: Not what you want or need but a lil’ taste of each.
By the time this 20th century idea kicked in, circa 2004, everything had changed. Once it were that voting was simple; you were a “Boss” a “Worker” or from the country. John Howard’s appeals to suburban values and Latham’s bourgeois fascism have undercut these tenants of Australian politics. The party is nothing but shorthand for what type of narrowness a politician is committed to; Liberal=economic conservative, Labor=working class. But in real terms these historical distinctions are increasingly meaningless.
Polls were taken and preferences fluctuated as Australians showed they were ready for change but Latham was doomed because it came down to personality. Howard may be older but Latham is a throw-back. He has a weird 1950s masculine attachment to the handshake and his coarse turns of phrase like “Conga line of suckholes” were enough to make voters uneasy. Kinda like the beer drinking Prime Minister in that Simpsons episode. Being conservative is fine but being coarse, vulgar and generally lacking class are character flaws….right?
Famous Tribal Hater: Adolf Hitler
By the time this 20th century idea kicked in, circa 2004, everything had changed. Once it were that voting was simple; you were a “Boss” a “Worker” or from the country. John Howard’s appeals to suburban values and Latham’s bourgeois fascism have undercut these tenants of Australian politics. The party is nothing but shorthand for what type of narrowness a politician is committed to; Liberal=economic conservative, Labor=working class. But in real terms these historical distinctions are increasingly meaningless.
Polls were taken and preferences fluctuated as Australians showed they were ready for change but Latham was doomed because it came down to personality. Howard may be older but Latham is a throw-back. He has a weird 1950s masculine attachment to the handshake and his coarse turns of phrase like “Conga line of suckholes” were enough to make voters uneasy. Kinda like the beer drinking Prime Minister in that Simpsons episode. Being conservative is fine but being coarse, vulgar and generally lacking class are character flaws….right?
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
We finally got something to use in a character assassination campaign.
Comment by Jim Spears
Political Pundit
The problem is the short-sighted political style...John Howard had an awesome throw away line once: "I will never, ever introduce a GST" He said that before he got elected and never, really, had to pay for it.
Exploitvie, worried and maybe insecure?
Release the hounds...
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
No he wasn't but he had the image of one from time to time.
"Any boss who dock the wages is a bum..." something like that.
Latham was just the wrong man at the time. He was a wild card that did not trump Howard's full house.
I was never a Keating man. But seeing old videos of him now he is not PM and he is a really good show to watch, An acidic comedy, Howard was opposite so looked less irritating. After ten years he started to look power hungry. Rudd has another image. How will that look in ten years?