Is this the toughest election in history to get excited about, or what? It’s been lacking in defined policies and been brimful of watered-down, negatively-defined, wavering visions on both sides. It’s flaccid soup. And I haven’t been able to find the chunky bits!
A few thoughts before I head to the ballot box tomorrow.
I’m choosing to find the heartening and true path in it all…because I believe there is one, under the spin and limp performances:
* This flaccid soup has meant the Greens have emerged as a viable third option – a sturdy crouton, if you like – for the first time in history, in the running to control the Senate and get their first member in the House of Representatives. They have a clear, unwavering vision that something can stick to. They are an injection of kind (their income tax changes, for example), a reminder of where we all REALLY want to be. It’s going to be a good injection to have in the mix, no matter whether you agree with all their policies….keeping the bastard’s honest and all that. I’m glad they’ll be around.
* Despite the fact that whenever there is a dire absence of substance we resort to a personality contest, we haven’t in this case. Because both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott left theirs at the starting gate. This rather breaks my heart to watch. They’ve been stage-managed within an inch of their lives. And they both got too far down this corralled path to be able to get true in time for tomorrow’s ballot. I get the sense they wanted to. But exhaustion and micro-management has prevented it.
Both leaders have also been operating too close to the screen. They’ve been sitting in the front row and wondering why they’re missing the plot.
Have you ever been in that position…where you have so many people telling you what to do, and so many competing factors are up close in your face, that YOU get lost in the pulling and tugging?