Rough days on a rolling campaign to nowhere
By Barrie Cassidy
Posted Wed Feb 9, 2011 5:27pm AEDT
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott faces off with Channel Seven reporter Mark Riley at Parliament House on February 8, 2011. (Channel Seven)
Have any two political leaders ever simultaneously polarised the electorate in the way that Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott demonstrably do right now?
And has there ever been so much political savagery and manic participation from political partisans in this part of the political cycle, maybe the best part of three years away from the next federal election?
The response to the Prime Minister's tearful tribute to the many people who lost their lives in the Queensland flood was a case in point. Very few people, no matter how wooden or robotic, could get to their feet in a public forum and detail the circumstances of the heart wrenching deaths without breaking up. Yet in Gillard's home town, The Herald Sun ran 23 letters, all but four of them condemning her.
"Crocodile tears." "What a crock." "Oscar winning act." "Oh, par-leeze. Resorting to the old throw a few tears trick." "Oh cripes. I just chucked all over my keyboard."
Nobody other than a mindless partisan could watch and judge Gillard's speech in such a way. Certainly Tony Abbott did not, saying of her that she had shown "a decent heart."
But that is the prevailing political mood. It's ugly. It seems as if the country is in a rolling election campaign with every nuance amplified and argued hysterically, particularly in the social media. Perhaps that's because so many people feel that the last federal election resolved nothing and that surely a second judgement day is just around the corner.
There was a similar response to Abbott's "**** happens" remark. The partisans jumped out of the blocks, seeing it as grossly insensitive; further evidence that he is unfit for high office.
But think of the context. He was talking not about the death of a particular soldier, but the circumstances in which soldiers are killed.
The Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, said on the ABC's AM program "that in the terrible and difficult circumstances of the fog of war…often bad things happen."
That has precisely the same meaning as "**** happens." The difference is, Smith chose his words carefully for national radio. Abbott expressed himself in front of soldiers in the theatre of war, with a camera virtually eavesdropping on the conversation. But the partisans cut him no slack.
However, his handling of the matter is another story.
The Network Seven exclusive would have been exclusively on Seven, but for Abbott's response.
He had nothing to fear. All he had to do was explain the context and reassure the soldier's family that he meant no disrespect. Even government ministers conceded that Abbott had not intended to cause offence.
But given more than two hours notice of the details of the story, he strolled down to a parliamentary courtyard and subjected himself to a viewing of the videotape, with two cameras rolling. Then he gave a cursory response, followed by a bizarre and elongated silent stare, all the while giving the impression that he was tossing up whether he could flatten the reporter and still remain in politics.
Why on earth didn't his office simply demand to privately view the tape, and then calmly and sensibly think through his response? Why was he so ill prepared?
The Coalition was supposed to swagger back into Canberra ready to tear the government apart. But that hasn't happened. When question time finally rolled around, they had nothing. The politics of the levy are slipping away from them. How is it that given the terrible travails of the government since the "new paradigm" evolved, the Coalition has not opened up a substantial lead? And how is it that when Essential Media asked 12 questions related to character traits and capability, Gillard beat Abbott in every one of them?
These are rough days for a government still finding its way and crippled by a history of wasteful spending, and yet the opposition seems incapable of exploiting any of it.
