The “Ex(perience)” Factor

It was great to see The Herald finally engage in a bit of balanced journalism and put pressure on John Key over his week of blunders. Both Fran O’Sullivan and John Young featured Key’s gaffes in their Saturday pieces, as did the Herald On Sunday editorial. Of note was that all three honed in on Key’s lack of political experience, something which is sure to cause him many headaches in the months to come.

Fran O’Sullivan began hers without mincing any words:

“Memo: John Key. Get on top of policy quickly or you may follow Don Brash into oblivion. And stop blaming journalists for your verbal gaffes _ they’re not employed to be your mind-readers.”  

Indeed, a political leader in the throes of an election year, and a crucial one at that, should be at the top of his game. Sadly for Key, he isn’t.

John Young’s piece took a similar tone and raised a rather interesting issue:

“The parliamentary media’s fear is that once he has been sworn-in as Prime Minister, he will reveal his true self and start driving through a completely different agenda to the recipe of moderate conservatism he has cooked up in order to win power.”

Much has been made of Key’s hidden right-wing agenda, but it is certainly surprising that, given these fears, the media has left it so late in the piece to put some pressure on Key and write some critical journalism on him. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Finally, Sunday’s editorial had the following to say:

“it may equally be that Key has exposed himself as a man who, in the heat of a hard-fought campaign, will be, like the last National leader, gaffe-prone. What is certain is that the time for rehearsal is past. The curtain is up and there is nowhere left to hide.”

I think this statement hits the nail squarely on the head, and it will interesting to see how Key performs now that the curtain has been lifted and the public’s gaze is fixed firmly on him.

 

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John Key: From Manager To Managed

This week should have been one to remember for the National Party. With opinion polls released by The Herald and TV3 showing a growing divide between National and Labour, and National with enough support to govern alone, it should really have been their week. However, after extraordinary blunders by John Key, it is probably a week they’d sooner forget.

On Tuesday, the government’s move to block the sale of Auckland Airport to a Canadian pension fund left National in a rather tricky position. Balancing the particularly sensitive policy area of asset sales and core party beliefs of no government interference in private commercial relationships with the wider public interests of keeping New Zealand assets in New Zealand hands proved somewhat of a conundrum for Key. Indeed, that was written all over his face as he spoke to the media scrum following the government’s announcement. Unable to provide a definitive answer as to what National would have done, indicated that Key was ill prepared for a debate on asset sales.

Then on Wednesday came Key’s claim that National had no policy or deadline to settle historical Treaty claims. This was despite a clear (and core) 2005 election policy of settling all Treaty claims by 2010, and Key’s own announcement in 2007 that that deadline had been extended to 2014. Key was forced to release a press statement some time later, effectively admitting he did not understand his own party’s policy on Treaty settlements.

It is certainly extraordinary that in an election year the Leader of the Opposition can make two, seemingly amateur, blunders in the space of less than 24 hours. At a time when political stakes are high, one would expect Key to not only have a firm grasp on National Party policies, but be prepared to state National’s position on an issue, especially when it is one that National has had difficulty with in the past. But that is just it; Key isn’t prepared. Whilst Key the money trader excelled in his chosen field and was hailed and rewarded for his managerial skills, Key the politician, like his predecessor Brash, is a personality to be managed. And, in an attempt to mitigate his lack of political experience, Key has been over-managed to the point where he cannot think on his feet. It is no surprise that one of Key’s worst weeks coincided with his chief press officer taking leave. 

One only has to look at the way the National Party has tried to sell Key to the public to get a sense of how Key has been managed. The release of the John Key DVD is one such example. The music, the editing, the candid conversation, and the almost presidential style in which Key was presented all served to put a glossy sheen on what has been shown in the last few days to be an inept political Leader. His “State of the Nation” address earlier this year is another example. Whilst Clark chose to deliver her speech at a business breakfast, Key’s was given to a group of paying National Party supporters, definitely a more comfortable and receiving audience. The clapping supporters and the standing ovation as Key entered not only served to present a positive image of Key to those watching the news, but to give Key a more relaxed environment free from the pressure that his words might not be well received.

If opinion polls are to be believed, then Key’s manufactured image has gone down well with the public, but, as has been shown over this past week, there are of course inherent dangers in shielding an inexperienced politician from politics. Whilst Key is used to delivering National Party policy to National Party audiences, that will not always be possible as the election draws near. Key will be increasingly faced with issues like those seen this week, especially as National starts to release policy, and New Zealanders will finally get a true picture of what John Key the Prime Minister would actually be like.   

 

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