A phrase sprang to mind this morning, and I checked to see if I had got it right.
I had.
It was said, or so his son alleged, by Winston Churchill’s father, Lord Randolph:
“It is the duty of an opposition to oppose.”
This is, you would imagine. somewhat obvious. But it is ignored.
It means more than making smart-arse remarks at Prime Minister’s question time, or pretending you ride a bike through London when you’ve got a car following you, or hoping your wife is a better vote-catcher than the other man’s, or mewling in public about what should be decently kept as your personal tragedies less insincerely than the other creep.
It means adhering to what I have long stated is the primary purpose in marketing – and winning elections is about marketing – which is to answer the question in everyone’s mind, “Why should we choose you?”
If the Mendacious McToad proposes one thing, you must propose the other. If the Incompetent McToad claims printing money is the way to solve the consequences of his folly, you must say it is not. If the Slithery McToad offers to bribe the public with this or that, you must say what is obvious to every vaguely sentient person – we can’t afford it.
And so on.
Only 60% of all those who could vote did last time. The Avaricious Bliar was elected by a minority. Many people don’t vote because there is no choice, and those who do tend to choose the best liar – and only Clinton was better at that than Big Ears.
The trouble with Cameron is that he is seen as a man who lacks that old-fashioned quality known as “bottom”. He is seen as a lightweight. His only passion I can detect is a passion to be elected. That is NOT a unique selling proposition.
One wonderful vote getter would be to say that no matter what has happened so far the crooks who stole money and are now being given rigged pardons should be retroactively brought to book, not forgetting the bushy-browed home flipper Alastair Darling and cupid-lipped Osborne.
Right now my pal Ian’s dog Moose is looking increasingly attractive as a PM. He can’t speak, so he can’t lie.
You are absolutely right, the country is crying out for change but there is none coming. I grew up in the eighties under Margaret Thatcher and there was always a sense of “even though it's difficult it's right for the long term”. In hindsight she was right. We electorate understand that sometimes the leaders have to be tough, even if the policies are not percieved as vote winners or popular. Let's see some balls Mr Cameron before this country ends up bankrupt under yet another term of Labour,
As I do so often with some of the marketing efforts I see, I wonder why we don’t just state the obvious about what it is, what it isn’t, who it’s for, and who it isn’t.
Stateside, we’re left with the person who is deemed an utter failure because he didn’t deliver miracles in his first term, and the one who will literally say the exact opposite of what he touted as an absolute hours before in a herculean effort to pander in as many ways as possible.
While I don’t envy you VAT and your tax rates there in the UK, the green-eyed monster rears it’s ugly head at how little you all have to deal with in the way of mass-vomited equivocations, half-truths and out-and-out lies we are inundated with here.
The sheer number of fear-mongering commercials and apocalyptic warnings are enough to cause one to name an ulcer “general election,” as in, “Ugh, my general election is killing me right now.”
I’m keeping my head down until the 6th, holding my nose, and pulling the lever, if only to make the noise and ridiculousness go silent for a little while.
Wish us here in the States good luck, or at least send us some antacid tablets.
One word. Putin. I know that wont help you n the US but at least you don’t have him over there.