Team Howard's long hoped for poll narrowing remains as elusive as ever with the latest A.C. Nielson polling maintaining Kevin07's year long preferred government status. As we near the half way mark in an interminable election campaign it seems that Team Howard's strategy of throwing incomprehensible amounts of money at a million problems has failed and a crushing Kevin07 win is all but inevitable.
On ABC Radio this morning Team Howard’s Head of the Narrative, Andrew Robb, criticised Kevin07 for its shallow copycat me-too-ism as not presenting a credible alternative for the future, apparently unaware of the irony of his argument's inference for Team Howard. Team Howard has used the ‘hoard and spend to bribe voters’ strategy in every election, aided and abetted by wedge and spin eagerly reinforced by a compliant mainstream media ever ready to tear strips of an opposition daring to be different. Kevin07 has wedged the wedge and clearly has Team Howard rattled in a contest with no daylight between them.
So what is the real narrative? There is no discernable difference between the election campaign promises of either team. Team Howard is arguing therefore that it should re-elected as the government more trustworthy of managing the economy – a steady as she goes continuation of the Howard years. The un-spoken but implicit message from Kevin07 is a choice between the mean-spirited, fear-mongering, untrustworthy, inward-and-backward-looking, xenophobic free-market economic rationalist bastardry of Howardism, and a more inclusive, generous spirited and compassionate social-democratic future underpinned by conservative economic management and the will to tackle problems such as climate change and energy sustainability.
Team Howard is rowing against a turning tide. The forty year long Great Free-Market Economic Experiment has failed to deliver on its promises. It has failed to produce sustainable peace, prosperity and security. The radical excesses of the grand neo-conservative ascendancy have made a mess of the world. The greed-is-good notion that the best way to improve the world is to improve your own lot has attempted to make a moral virtue of avarice and selfishness and is inevitably failing. The subliminal message from Kevin07 is that we need a more socially inclusive and pro-actively progressive future – locally, nationally and globally. The electorate has known this and responded to it since the advent of Mark Latham. Rudd represents a safe and reassuring pair of hands on the tiller with an eye on the moral compass. The electorate decided a long time ago - about the time of Work Choices - and the polling continues to reflect this reality.
This election may well mark the beginning of Menziean era of conservative social democratic dominance. The likely anticipated magnitude of Team Howard’s demise would normally take a decade to recover from. Unlike Howard, Rudd bowing out at the top of his game could provide a potential for renewal to extend Labor’s time in office.
The only election campaign question remaining in my mind is what will happen if Tuesday’s predicted interest rate rise becomes reality. Will the MSM commentariat finally and irrevocably turn on Team Howard as they reposition themselves for the next phase of their individual careers? They hate being wrong and need to be onside with the winners. Will Team Howard have the discipline to maintain ranks in the final weeks of the campaign, or will it be every man for himself in an unedifying scramble for the lifeboats?
Another point for Kevin07 on the poll results.
