LINKS:
Time to regift the gab.
Well, it’s happening folks. As election campaigning reaches fever pitch, we’re drowning in political hyperbole.
All the hype is making my head, spin. But ya know, it wouldn’t bother me so much if the people vying for Oz’s top job had a little razzle. And maybe even some dazzle.
Ahh yes, the magical, charismatic stuff we admire in leaders. Presence. Eloquence. And dare I say it, inspiring speaking ability – and speeches.
But no.
In the left corner, we have a woman who likes to ‘shilly shally’ with vowels so broad she makes Kath n’ Kim sound positively aristocratic. And in the right a man whose political notions have earned him the moniker, Mad Monk.
Where is it written in the Australian constitution that political leaders of the 21st century have to be so friggin’ uninspiring?!!
Okay, I can’t hold back my democratic heart any longer…
No matter what you think of him, too slick, too close to Oprah, Barack Obama is a stunning speaker. Even when it’s off the cuff, the guy is an effortless orator.
So you can imagine how loud the sound of my jaw dropping was when Ms Gillard rounded off her campaign speech this afternoon with the words,
‘Yes, we will.’
What??!!
Oh, I get it. Take a seminal line from a world-famous speech – a line that was used over the course of an ENTIRE campaign and not tacked on to the end of a repetitive ramble* – and, suddenly, look Ma, I can inspire a nation too!
Careful, Jules, you’ll hurt yourself.
Someone once said we get the politicians we deserve. Well, the suggestion that we deserve a couple of ambitious puppets with noice vowels and a wardrobe of budgie smugglers is really quite insulting.
Of course this entire diatribe could be a moot point. Because as history has already shown us – it doesn’t matter who we vote in this weekend. It doesn’t matter what they say or indeed how eloquently they say it.
Because someday, someway an ambitious deputy may fling a well-aimed blade and then, hey presto, there’ll be a new PM in town...
Oh dear.
Can we believe in the possibility of this happening again?
Yes, we can.
© Phyllis Foundis – August 2010
