Tactics vs Strategy

An interesting article by John Armstrong on Helen Clark and John Key.

Armstrong makes the point that Clark is still performing very well on a tactical basis. She can react quickly and well when pressed.

But at a higher strategic level, she has made some extraordinary blunders:

1) Totally misjudged the public mood on the pledge card, reversing policy not to pay it back only at the last minute

2) Defended Taito Phillip Field for far too long

3) Fumbled the response to Key’s underclass speech by denying there was one

4) Making the anti-smacking law a whipped vote for Labour

5) And now about to try and ram through taxpayer funding of Labour and other political parties

One would actually expect them to be further behind in the polls, with all of the above having happened. The fact they haven’t suggests they have pretty strong core support which isn’t affected by most issues. National is certainly well on track to win more votes than Labour at the next election. But to beat Labour by a large enough margin so that it is untenable for Labour to form a Government is the tough challenge.