I really really really am disappointed – approaching disgusted – with Phil Goff. (Got the picture? This is not just a passing disappointment, this may become permanent.)
His resort to the Don Brash / Winston Peters tactic of dog whistling the racial fears and prejudices of mainstream New Zealand has set him back in my mind to “just another politician” status. This shows qualities of desperation rather than leadership to me. I no longer want this man to be a leader of this country.
As regular readers of this blog will have figured easily by now, I tend to vote on the left side of the political spectrum, and I admit I try to give Labour politicians the benefit of the doubt when they stuff up (as they often do). The chances of that vote going to Labour any time soon has diminished sharply following Goff’s decision to do a Winston.
I must admit that I’ve been rather ambivalent about Goff for years, but especially since he took over leadership of the party. The description of him as “wooden” seems pretty apt, and I have long ago turned off his mechanical way of speaking in distinct phrases when he’s delivering a prepared sound bite for TV News on some issue. But I was prepared to believe that his heart was in the right place. Not any more!
