Just because its spin, doesn't mean they won't win

Much as I agree with Mr Andrew Bolt that free speech should be encouraged, I prefer not to have a torrent of that speech funnelled down my alternative media channels. That said, it has given me the opportunity to read his blog firsthand. Bolt has clearly set up his stall as chief prosecutor of the Great Kevin for crimes against statistics. Bolt's argument boils down to everything Rudd does is premised upon media management - i.e. it is spin - and hence it is of no consequence to the good governance of the nation. Rudd's astronomic preferred PM ratings are thus evidence of the greatest con perpetrated on the Australian people.

Spin is a useful tool in two great arenas of Australian experience. One is in politics, where politicians of all persuasions aim to put the issues in the best light for their side. The other is in sport, specifically cricket, where the ability to impart prodigious spin on the ball is one of the greatest assets a bowler can have. The key here is that it is one thing for a batsman to recognise the ball is spinning, but if seeing the spin was enough, Shane Warne would be nothing but an out-of-work poker player. Batsmen have to devise a method to anticipate the spin and respond to it with some smart footwork or composed thinking of their own.

At present, Australian conservatives are as hapless as the infamous Daryll Cullinan was against Warne. Currently Bolt's spin odyssey, where nothing Rudd can say or do has any substance, betrays the collective political poverty of conservative politics. The Libs and Nats are getting comprehensively smashed because they have old ideological struggles, internal machinations and arguments over nomenclature rather than offering alternative policies. Worse, the Federal party seems to be in freefall, with Nelson's leadership marked by walking contradictions.

Whereas Howard constructed a universe of his own making through wedging a hapless and flat-footed Labor party, Nelson is seeking to oppose the government by constructing either media beatups or acts of historical revisionism. He seems petty, carping, confused and irrelevant, a situation reflected in the preferred PM ratings.

The worst part about the spin defence is that it feeds in to a perception that no effort is required to win, indeed your side is the only party with the answers to the great questions. This leads to laziness, arrogance and an unhealthy sense of self-righteousness. The irony is that the more this attitude prevails, the less electable the party becomes.

The traditional division of politics has been on economic policy. What has happened is that Labor has adopted many of the economic policies of the conservative side and hence become indistinguishable. Only Howard's visible obsession with liquidating working conditions caused division to appear. Labor is now rebadging the debate to one where the community is their focus while grasping individualism is the residue left for conservatives. As the issue is now economic and service delivery, Labor is constructing impregnable fortresses against oppositions obsessed by foibles. While the conservatives rail, they become ever more irrelevant, left to fight over labels rather than ideas.