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August 27, 2007
Two interesting points were raised by commenters on Matt Price's blog about Rudd and Roxon's hospital plan which, since late last week, seem to have converged and morphed into a handicap for the coalition.
First commenter off the block, Embrace the truth, thinks it's "a PR win" for Labor, and that Howard is "the author of his own dilemma" here. If he wasn't such an authoritarian he wouldn't have his health minister in the awkward position of having to attack his own idea. It's a good point.
Fourth comment down from Keith Gregg points out that Costello is sitting on "seventeen billion dollars of OUR money" while the health system goes down the tubes.
TripleJ's Roy and HG made a similar comment on the weekend - that the federal government is socking money into mysterious funds, but the states are borrowing to keep things running. Mind you, they also felt a series of plebiscites should be held on decisions regarding the sporting facilities, toilet blocks and tuckshop at an imaginary Don Bradman Primary School.
The thing that struck me about all of these is how easy people are finding it to ridicule just about everything the Howard government does. It's not that they're not being taken seriously anymore. The ideas behind aspirational nationalism alarmed many, but the term itself and the attitudes behind it were cause for much mirth.
That can't be good if you're trying to convince people you can effectively run a country.
Most comments threads at News.com descend into slanging matches between a handful of regulars brawling over well-worn territory. By the third page of comments there's usually little original left to be said anyway. The news and current affairs nomads have made their point and moved on.
Price's blog is an interesting one to watch for a sense of who's winning the arguments. He's not overtly partisan and his style is hardly serious political commentary. That may not be what we expect from print media, but it opens up a space where his readers can make their own arguments and work things out for themselves.
Left to their own devices with Rudd's hospital announcement, Labor supporters located it in the Howard strategies of war against the states and federal surplus. There wasn't much the Howard crowd could do. Supporters can only work with the material their leaders supply and, at the moment, the coalition script is being read as slapstick.
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Lyn,
Matt Price is not seen as a serious political journalist like Laurie Oakes or Michelle Grattan. He's seen as a bit of a joke, with a nasty edge by the serious political /policy wonk types. At least he's not a huckster like a Glenn Milne.
I read him Price differently--he captures the theatre of politics especially when he is flippantly reporting on what is happening in Question Time in Parliament. He often speaks like an old queen of the theatre.
Price locates this political theatre in popular culture---his latest blog post talks in terms of the terminator, thus:
Politcs as theatre is what Ronald Reagan political success epitomized, and what Karl Rove understands and applied rather successfully in the packaging of Dubya after 9/11.
It's why Fox has remained so popular: Its not the politics. It's the flair. It's the same with Murdoch's racy tabloids in Australia--they have a nose for 'showmanship', and sensitivity to the dramatic, which they understand to be a necessary component in the nexus of politics and journalism.
If Price's imagery indicates the shift from theatre to cinema, then his way of interpreting politics makes politics very accessible. He's not in the the public is so dumb mould.