Some sort of transformation is happening. The John Key that we knew in the election campaign, confident but a bit unwilling to offend, seems to be fading. A new John Key appears to be on top of things, comfortable in control, and effortlessly calling the shots. The news media's honeymoon period appears to have started with a vengeance. Even Duncan Garner, he of the leaked Labour tapes, is speaking in awe-struck tones of decisive and fast-moving government formation.
Labour has chopped off its old head and shoulders and is busy frying them in oil - the media barely notices. They dutifully report it without much interest, but commentators like Colin Espiner are more interested in talking about the (for now) pointless topic of whether National will have two terms or three.
How much of this is relief, on all sides, that we don't Labour + Environmentalists running the show? Are even the Labour voters looking at this and thinking that a National government might not be a bad thing for a while?
Or is this just the usual honeymoon, with expectations that the attacks will start again in 90 days?
Helen Clark famously had a very long honeymoon. I'm not even sure when it ended. I will be interesting to watch this one, but for now I am just astounded at the positive and uncritical spin the media are putting on National. It really makes a change.
When did Helen's honeymoon end?
I believe it was the day the Auditor General's report pinged her for stealing $800,000. It was about that time they stopped talking about the "evil 1990s", or at least cut back by about 90%!
Up till then, the media were still gushing over her "political management skills", but they soon forgot after they realised that she was just a crook.
Posted by: scrubones | November 14, 2008 at 09:09 AM
Yes but wasn't that *6 years* after being elected? That's the sort of honeymoon that would cause divorce amongst most newly weds!
Was the media honeymoon really that long?
Posted by: The Optimist | November 16, 2008 at 08:03 PM