"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way". This passage from
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of his most oft-quoted, not least in the week that has just past (according to my very un-scientific poll, at least). And it's hardly surprising for this New Zealander. It would have to be someone with a very hard heart - or very right-wing views - not to be moved by the election of Barack Obama at the start of the week. Dan and I went down to the Occidental pub after work to watch the results on TV and the whole room went quiet as the President-elect addressed both Grant Park and the world, as a bewildered Jesse Jackson wept and as a country danced for joy. The quiet lasted for all of 2 minutes as the TV channel then elected to go to an ad break and continue with its regular programming. Idiots.
In New Zealand, National Party leader John Key pretty spuriously sought some reflected glory by also emphasising the theme of change, both of the policy and generational kinds. So what do New Zealanders do at the end of this very same historic week? They vote OUT the government that kept them out of the Iraq war (unlike Bush), that have introduced Working for Families to assist those on low-medium incomes (unlike Bush) and have not set up a modern-day gulag on a nearby island (unlike Bush). While I object to the scathing stereotypes that the journalist from the Melbourne
Herald Sun used to describe the election (read about them
here), she does have a point that it seems to be change for change's sake, not because it was actually needed. This seems even more the case when you have a passing look at National's policies, which mostly recycle or keep all of Labour's or propose what seems out of keeping with what is needed in this economic climate (cutting the Kiwisaver retirement savings scheme to fund tax cuts?!) And for those of us who are (just!) old enough to remember the both the welfare cuts of the 1990s and the sting of Rogernomics in the 1980s, it was a pretty scary sight seeing rabid Roger Douglas - now back in parliament with the ACT party which provides National's key support - practically salivating at the thought of running a(nother) razor through the social welfare state. In the cold light of day, after ousting one of the more capable PMs we've had, it seems to be me to be less a case of 'Yes we can' than 'What have we done?'
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way". This passage from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of his most oft-quoted, not least in the week that has just past (according to my very un-scientific poll, at least). And it's hardly surprising for this New Zealander. It would have to be someone with a very hard heart - or very right-wing views - not to be moved by the election of Barack Obama at the start of the week. Dan and I went down to the Occidental pub after work to watch the results on TV and the whole room went quiet as the President-elect addressed both Grant Park and the world, as a bewildered Jesse Jackson wept and as a country danced for joy. The quiet lasted for all of 2 minutes as the TV channel then elected to go to an ad break and continue with its regular programming. Idiots.
In New Zealand, National Party leader John Key pretty spuriously sought some reflected glory by also emphasising the theme of change, both of the policy and generational kinds. So what do New Zealanders do at the end of this very same historic week? They vote OUT the government that kept them out of the Iraq war (unlike Bush), that have introduced Working for Families to assist those on low-medium incomes (unlike Bush) and have not set up a modern-day gulag on a nearby island (unlike Bush). While I object to the scathing stereotypes that the journalist from the Melbourne Herald Sun used to describe the election (read about them here), she does have a point that it seems to be change for change's sake, not because it was actually needed. This seems even more the case when you have a passing look at National's policies, which mostly recycle or keep all of Labour's or propose what seems out of keeping with what is needed in this economic climate (cutting the Kiwisaver retirement savings scheme to fund tax cuts?!) And for those of us who are (just!) old enough to remember the both the welfare cuts of the 1990s and the sting of Rogernomics in the 1980s, it was a pretty scary sight seeing rabid Roger Douglas - now back in parliament with the ACT party which provides National's key support - practically salivating at the thought of running a(nother) razor through the social welfare state. In the cold light of day, after ousting one of the more capable PMs we've had, it seems to be me to be less a case of 'Yes we can' than 'What have we done?'
1 comment:
A very concise summary of events-well said. It will be of some interest to see what we have voted in. Alas the recession is a marvellous excuse for doing nothing or getting out of ones election promises.
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