Some good advice for Labour

The Herald reports:

One of the criticisms of Labour is that it suffers from a dearth of hopey-changey stuff. Little has taken to the opposing part of Opposition with relish – lashing out at everything from the flag referendums and pandas to the economy.

Jennifer Marshment-Lees, a Auckland University expert in political marketing, says that is one of the problems. “[Little] needs to stop criticising everything the National Government do. The voters voted them in, so if you keep criticising a party that is still relatively popular and respected then you’re criticising the voters.”

She pointed to “peripheral” examples such as the flag as well as bigger issues including the TPP, talking down the economy and Labour’s gloomy response to the return to surplus. “Hitting a government on its main strength is a bit stupid.”

Yep, long may it last.

She also pointed to Labour railing against the deployment of trainers to Iraq. “Andrew Little started with negativity and he should have acknowledged it’s a difficult decision for a Prime Minister.”

It’s a view Labour Party member and political commentator Josie Pagani shares. “There is no political movement in history that’s ever won without being hopeful. Think of Martin Luther King or Justin Trudeau. At the moment it feels like Labour’s message is, ‘New Zealand is going to hell in handbasket, the Chinese are coming to get us, your lives are miserable and, by the way, you’re fat. Vote for us.‘ It’s just not going to work.”

That’s so true.