What happened to day 12? Slipped by in a flurry of real world activity to the background noise of an election campaign mired in a myriad of spending announcements in marginal seats around the nation. Unions and interest rates dominates discussion in another week decisively won by Kevin07. An unshakable reality that even the MSM Commentariat are slowly coming to terms with as they begin circling Howard’s dying carcass.
A year ago, on returning from the Maldon Folk Festival I wrote a post called I Hear that train ‘a comin’ and observed:
In my travels at Maldon I was trying not to mention politics, although the subject of John Howard came up a few times. The response was always one of simmering resentment and anger, tempered with the bitter frustration of despair.
I sense that people are thinking it’s time for change. I certainly hope so.
It seems increasingly likely that the apparent immunity of polling intention to everything Team Howard can throw at it is because the people of Australia abandoned Howard long ago. They are being bored senseless by a glut of pork-barrel largess whilst being reminded of the reasons why they are over Howard. Team Howard have starved public investment, accumulating vast budget surpluses to used as voter bribes when the election comes around. The people are wise to the trick and aren’t buying it. Meanwhile every mention of unions reminds us of WorkChoices and every other policy area becomes a discussion of the many ways that Team Howard has failed to deal with them in any cohesive manner and are still clueless about. Apart from a cultural agenda exploiting fear and division to promote an inward-looking, self-centred consumerism, Team Howard have no coherent policy platform to see to the sensible expenditure of budget surpluses sufficient to ensure the ongoing health, well-being and prosperity of the nation and its people.
The voters are just counting the days until the election. Media vultures are circling, waiting to move in for the kill, and rewriting the narrative to more closely align it with the growing reality that the party really is over. After all they have to continue to do business with a new government. Kent Brockman voice over, “I, for one, welcome our new Over Lords!”
Cross posted at Blogotariat.
Filed under: Federal Election 2007, Politics
