A Burnt Child With No Fear Of Fire: New Zealanders expect their leaders to make informed and sensible political choices. We do not expect them to thrust their hands into one avoidable fire after another and allow them to be burned black.
COLIN CRAIG suffers from the
political equivalent of leprosy. He lacks the acutely sensitive nerve-endings which
allow professional politicians to avoid issues that are too hot to handle.
Again and again, Craig has thrust his hands into the fire of political
controversy, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly debilitating consequences.
An experienced politician
would never have written – let alone posted to every New Zealand household – a
detailed response to the accusations of his political enemies. If what your
opponents are saying about you has gained sufficient currency to require such denials,
then it is almost certainly too late for them to do any good.
And yet, this is exactly what
Craig did. Worse, he wrote the pamphlet himself. Had he employed the services
of a professional publicist (who would almost certainly have begged him not to
do it) the excruciating embarrassment of the past few weeks could have been
avoided.
Insulation from reality is,
however, one of the besetting tribulations of great wealth. Ordinary folk must present
a convincing case for spending millions of dollars. As a highly successful
businessman, however, Craig possesses the resources to give his whims and
fancies concrete expression. Had these been sound, he could have been another Michael
Bloomberg. But, they were not – and he ended up in court.
In defending his reputation, the
Taxpayers’ Union founder, Jordan Williams, has simultaneously driven a stake through
Craig’s political heart and mortally wounded the Conservative Party. Over the
weeks of Williams’ defamation action, the nation has looked on, in head-shaking
disbelief, as a grown man has been forced to acknowledge, under oath, behaviour
that would embarrass a spotty adolescent.
Day after day the public has
been treated to example after example of Craig’s appalling judgement. New
Zealand voters are prepared to cut politicians a great deal of slack when it
comes to the sins of the flesh (just ask Shane Jones!) but they will not
forgive a consistent pattern of bad decision-making. We expect our leaders to
make informed and sensible political choices. We do not expect them to thrust
their hands into one avoidable fire after another and allow them to be burned
black.
But even as they write him
off as a passing political curiosity, New Zealanders will likely experience a
twinge of sympathy for Craig. From the moment he entered the political arena in
2009, his endearing, almost childlike, faith in the democratic process has
touched the hearts of many. Unfortunately, just like Tom Hanks’ character in
the movie “Big”, Craig’s teenage-boy-in-a-man’s-body pursuit of godly goals has
also been the source of considerable mirth.
Craig professed to be shocked
by the “dirty politics” of his foes. It is astonishing that he took so long to
realise that there is no other kind. He knows that now. In the words of the
inimitable American humourist, Mark Twain: “A man who carries a cat by the tail
learns something he can learn in no other way.”
This essay was originally posted on the Stuff website on
Friday, 30 September 2016.
