It's About Who You Know
19 March, 2008For many things in life, it can be who you know that counts for as much as what you know. Sometimes this is to your advantage – networking can land you a new job, a spouse, or perhaps a golf partner. It can also lead to potential damage. The last few days has seen some of that come to light.
The most prominent international example of this is the disaster that has struck Obama's campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It seems that the minister of Obama's church which he has attended for the past 20 years has said some rather uncharitable things about America in general, and specifically about those of a pale pigmentation. I won't bother repeating what has been said elsewhere, as you can find all the information you could ever possibly want about it on CNN or one of the other news websites. Such a thing is a disaster of course – it would be like Fred Phelps of “God Hates Fags” infamy endorsing McCain for the Presidency. Non-extreme-Homophobic supporters of McCain would go running for the hills, with McCain probably running right after them in the rush to get away. We can't assume that Obama holds the views of his minister, in fact given his consistent rhetoric I would suggest we can safely assume he does not hold those sorts of views. However, Obama is now stuck with the mere whiff of unelectability that comes with association with peddler's of unpopular rhetoric. How he behaves in distancing himself from these views in the next week or so may determine whether he wins the nomination and the November election in the USA. That's if it isn't already too late.
Here in New Zealand a rather more ambiguous situation has arisen. Sir Roger Douglas, the Finance Minister of the Fourth Labour Government that brought in many of the free-market reforms that have created the economic growth experienced here over the past decade, has announced he is now a candidate for the ACT Party. When NZ went to MMP in the mid-1990s, Douglas helped form the Right-wing Liberal ACT Party and served for some years as its President. He and current leader had a major falling out due to Hide's particular tendencies to “Perk-bust” rather than take an ideological approach to politicking. But Hide has reformed his ways (due no doubt in small part to ACT's collapse in electoral support) and Douglas is back – not just in the party, but as a candidate no less. This has two effects of course – it excites the soft-ACTites who have been with National since 2004 when they were pushed away with an ideological “Cultural Revolution” into possibly slipping back in behind them, and it causes discomfort and panic attacks for those on the left and the mortgage-belt. The grandstanding of ACT that Douglas would be put forward as a Cabinet member of a National-ACT government didn't exactly quell the horses either – the last thing many members of the public want is another round of Rogernomics (because they do not see the connection between the pain of the '80s and the gain of the '90s and '00s). The last thing National wants is to be associated with Douglas – that puts the whiff of unelectability upon them that may scare away the soft-National support base who may swing back to Labour. So this election year should be interesting – ACT is going to use Douglas as their poster-boy, and touting him as the perfect compliment to a National-led government. National want ACT's support so will be sitting in the chair next to them, but leaning as far away from Douglas as possible without being seen as rude.
Because it's not about what you know – it's about who you know.Continue Reading >>
