tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post259717714125197319..comments2024-03-29T00:44:42.046+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Man Of Constant SorrowChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-24870201003622380592011-10-09T09:08:23.931+13:002011-10-09T09:08:23.931+13:00Hey Chris, I take this column with a bow. I sugge...Hey Chris, I take this column with a bow. I suggested this well over than a year ago and I'm glad to see it finally getting back in the press. Goff was set up by Clark as a serious man who would try to steer the party the right way while never being a real threat to take the reins. He would hopefully not damage Labour too much while letting the party sort itself out and get it's next management structure in line. I still think he's doing his best with damaged goods but still think he was set up as a fall guy long ago.Madisonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-90726231172803566372011-10-09T09:00:03.238+13:002011-10-09T09:00:03.238+13:00I think you are drawing a long bow if you think Ph...I think you are drawing a long bow if you think Phil ending up as leader was anything more than him being the best of an average bunch.<br /><br />This idea is borne out by the fact that none of the pretenders have come out to face the music.<br /><br />A well written piece, all the same Chris Trotter.Scott Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10586973438373247510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-14642637303263459812011-10-08T21:20:26.804+13:002011-10-08T21:20:26.804+13:00Chris
I think your comments are somewhat unfair. ...Chris<br /><br />I think your comments are somewhat unfair. I know that Phil has been tainted by his time in the fourth Labour Government but they were strange times and he was somewhat on the periphery.<br /><br />He was a very competent and organized minister of the fifth Labour Government. He was a sure pair of hands, hardworking and dedicated.<br /><br />When Labour lost in 2008 it was somewhat catastrophic. The trouble is that when you are in power for a long period of time the process of working through a loss is difficult.<br /><br />I am not sure who else was a possible leader. David Cunliffe is very talented but did not have sufficient support at the time. No one else had the support or ability. I appreciate this does not sound like a ringing endorsement but the aftermath of losses are strange times.<br /><br />Your propositions are wrong. Phil won because he was the best candidate at the time. And politics is a funny thing, if labour gets up to 37% plus at this election then Phil's leadership will be vindicated and he may be PM, depending of course on the inter party negotiations.<br /><br />It is too early to write an obituary. The events in Parliament on Wednesday of this week where a crisis occurred showed me that Phil is eminently qualified to handle the responsibility of leadership and Key falls well short. For anyone wanting to consider this the video is at http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/11017<br /><br />Of course a couple of MPs have expressed a different opinion and Darren Hughes could have been handled differently but so what? National has also had it's share of melt downs but for some strange reason if it happens to Labour it is a sign of Phil's failings but if it happens to National Key is teflon coated ...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16293708548352713924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-23987861825061350602011-10-08T12:00:04.323+13:002011-10-08T12:00:04.323+13:00You need to bear in mind some of the successes of ...You need to bear in mind some of the successes of Helen Clark's government. They did reduce debt, they did greatly reduce unemployment, and they did set up a national savings scheme, to name but a few significant things. It is true that they did not manage to contain the housing bubble (though imagine the screams if they had tried) and the anti-smacking bill, while a Green initiative, was eagerly sheeted at them from the right. I do not think that most workers are perturbed by such matters as civil unions, so long as their concerns are not being neglected. <br /><br />During that period it was possible to believe that we were emerging from an "immature market economy" to a new stability, in which a more just consensus might be formed. <br /><br />Since 2008, however, the door has swung shut on that possibility, and the right wing hegemony has been winched up a notch, perhaps to dangerous levels. The problem for the left is not Phil Goff per se, but finding the right focus for fighting this leg of the battle, while remaining true to the core value of social justice.Olwynnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-86527239415239659262011-10-07T20:21:15.852+13:002011-10-07T20:21:15.852+13:00Or he could resign, and could have all the way thr...Or he could resign, and could have all the way through the disastrous debacle that has been his leadership of the party.<br /><br />And what awaits him over that ridge: A hobby farm amongst the pony club set, a couple of million, and all the sinecures and directorships he could wish for, or he could take up a pleasant hobby. He and his family are much more secure than 99 percent of NZanders facing these turbulent times. He's got a cushy future ahead - it's all sweet.<br /><br />Even if he chooses to slum it by, say, using our now god-awful public health system for some little op, he's a someone now, he's rich and he'll be treated quite differently to most who step through the doors, but then, as with most things, he has options, and he never has to have much to do with the riff-raff who he and his cronies consigned to the scrap-heap of intergenerational poverty in the eighties, and continued to scorn for the rest of his career. you know the ever-increasing poor - the people he did back-flips to avoid mentioning these past three years, lest the smell of being a loser clung to his individually tailored suit.<br /><br />Cry me a river Chris.<br /><br />As for the 'boy's own' talk of how he could have succeeded by being a real(man)leader by crushing dissent, and kicking ass....<br />*yawn*Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-82091547686306406312011-10-07T18:09:49.230+13:002011-10-07T18:09:49.230+13:00There is a way out for Phil Goff.
All he need do ...There is a way out for Phil Goff.<br /><br />All he need do is donate a foot to Ritchie McCaw, his groin to Dan Carter and one of his kidneys to Jonah Lomu.<br /><br />That would get heaps of admiration and would also put him in a wheelchair thus getting sympathy from old ladies as well. Old ladies can be relied on to vote.<br /><br />If you think that all sounds bloody silly well is it any sillier than someone's heart going out to a right wing Rogernomics retread?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-17071838351169596712011-10-07T15:20:39.455+13:002011-10-07T15:20:39.455+13:00This is Phil Goff's problem. We haven't se...This is Phil Goff's problem. We haven't seen him show that fundamental element of political leadership...power. As much as many well-meaning liberal Labour supporters (with their collectivist, process-driven way of doing things) may shudder at the thought, there is a (dark) part of the human heart that responds to displays of authority. If Phil Goff had flogged (even unfairly) one of his junior MPs early on in his term, people would respect him more now. He didn't and now look at him and the dis-organised rabble in Opposition.Matthewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-26670527630267504792011-10-07T10:39:43.390+13:002011-10-07T10:39:43.390+13:00You're right, Matthew, what can I say?
When G...You're right, Matthew, what can I say?<br /><br />When Grant Robertson hacked into him in caucus over his "Nationhood" speech, Goff should have stripped him of his spokesperson responsibilities and banished him to the furtherest reaches of the back-benches. <br /><br />He should then have put his leadership to the vote in an all-or-nothing "back me or sack me" bid for genuine control of the party.<br /><br />Once you've let a first-term back-bencher and your party president walk all over you - there's no going back. <br /><br />(And don't even get me started on the Darren Hughes debacle.)Chris Trotterhttp://bowalleyroad.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-32274205332972321652011-10-07T10:07:41.289+13:002011-10-07T10:07:41.289+13:00Chris, you of all people should know that (and my ...Chris, you of all people should know that (and my apologies for not expressing this principle as well as you might) in history a man is rarely the master of his own destiny, but sometimes events put him in a position where he change the world. Whatever Helen Clark's schemes when she put Phil Goff in charge, Phil could have seized the day and reformed the Labour Party. A good leader shows clarity of vision and determination to achieve his aims. Phil Goff hasn't and he rightly deserves our contempt.Matthewnoreply@blogger.com