John Key appreciation thread

here's to a successful career as prime minister

watch your back

Isn't it ironic that at a time when the world is savaging financial traders' greed as the cause of an approaching long and painful recession, New Zealand goes and elects one as its Prime Minister to lead it out of the current global financial troubles?

Just a thought.

Considering Left Wing socialist policy is the only thing that kick started the economy after the great depression, I have a feeling NZers will regret this.

But hey, Change is good right, Obama (LEFT) and Rudd (LEFT) got in.

Here's a hint everyone, if there is no money to spend and banks are not lending, economic stimulus cannot magically happen. The government actually has to step in.

Heh yeah i've been finding it whacked that people are trying to compare the shift to national like americas shift to Obama. Err no. They are finally waking up to getting rid of those fucking neocons and turning left and what are we doing? electing national and act.. awesome At least greens got 2 extra seats

Yeah fuck this is bad Can't think why anyone that actually understands business would be good for NZ right about now.

Well as I see it, the USA went for Bush when we went for Helen.

Now they’ve got Obama, and we’ve got Key.

It’s obviously a hemisphere thing between our two countries.

Yes! Like the coriolis force.

We flush our toilets, it swirls one way.,,

yep - of the cerebral cortex variety



I'm happy to go with the right about now

and I like this from the same source as the quote above

Congrats to John Key and National, the nation has spoken. So please, don't fuck it up!

What people dont really seem to realise that while the US had a shift to the left, an Obama administration is still to the right the of government we have here.

Im also pretty damn sure what kicked the world economies out of the depression was WW II. Is war left wing socialist policy?? No I think not.

What they also don't realise is that those lauded 1930's leftist governments' Keynesian public works policies were what we would call now 'working for the dole'.

we can both quote newspapers:

that ozzie also described us as wanting to be ruch as well as thuck - very patronising

We deserve to be patronised, we just voted to ditch the plan!

what makes me laugh is when John Key goes on about how "pashnit" he is about "educashn" - basic "litrcy"

he can't stop mangling and murdering our language

"frinancial scurity" anyone?

A good story, but unfortunately untrue.

Helen, the tribe has spoken.

it will be interesting to see how well Uncle John performs

I have heard a few people say that the Labour of 1999-2008 is not the same Labour of 1990 and hopefully eventually the same will be said of National

he strikes me so far as a weak, shifty, malleable figure

some of his mannerisms come across as immature

this is a concern, considering that there are far more powerful and experienced people around him

he may end up being a puppet prime minister, simply because he does not have the willpower to resist the influence of these more dominant (and extreme) political types

dunno if youd call him weak.

i have met him briefly and hear him speak for an hour at massey albany. seems intelligent and unpuppet like to me (which was a concern to me also) he spoke about where is view differed from some in his party.

Willing to give him the benifit of the doubt at this stage. Will be interesting to see how he matures into the role.

for example, Rodney Hide dominated the hell out of John Key on the news the other night - Rodney definitely is a stronger personality

I had to keep reminding myself who was the prime minister elect!

Key certainly wasn't acting like a prime minister, at least to my eyes

he comes across more like a good, capable business manager

I get the impression Key is weak also, those with strong agendas could end up walking all over him. We could end up in a similar sort of situation like when Lange wanted to have a "cup of tea" but it was too late.

I don't think Key is weak even though he sometimes appears to be, especially compared to his peers

this might be due to my view that he isn't as driven by any specific vision (except to land the job) as some others and isn't such a grandstander as Mr Hide for example

I imagine in the meetings that matter and when he has an agenda/posaition he is a formidible foe

you imagine? that's good, because imagine is all we CAN do - we are not getting to see a public display of strength

Helen Clark always presented publicly as strong and steely, and was formidable in closed-door meetings as well

like it or not, the role of Prime Minister is also a public role, and it is in public that Mr Key has to prove himself to New Zealanders

Rodney Hide actually spoke FOR Key the other night, in front of TV reporters. He said:

"John's gotta keep faith with his voters and so too does Act - Act is actually where National's philosophy is and where the vote support is - and John Key has to be careful because he knows that half his core support actually agrees with Act."

Key just sat there and looked uncomfortable, and un-prime ministerial.

He will grow into it or he wont and he will get turfed.

Time will tell.

Prime Minister is not really a role which you have the luxury to "grow into"

his inexperience shows, and you are right, if he stuffs up too much, he will be turfed

the National party have a long history of coups in respect of under-performing leaders (or simply because of party factions)

I think youre being a bit one eyed/biased.

Helen is a somewhat different person to who she was when she took power. Remember her crying in public? Hardly what you would expect of a prime minister no?

that crying incident happened WELL into her career as prime minister - not an example of her "growing into the role" at all

that was a one-off, which actually did her some favours, because it showed that she was human, and had feelings (her critics frequently accused her of being cold and un-feminine and lacking sensitivity)

Helen started strong as a PM and got even stronger - well, that's my perception

I'm not a die-hard Helen Clark/Labour supporter either

I thought it happened while she was leader of the opposition?

sorry - you're right - happened in 1998 before she became PM

Nope, she was PM when that happened - towards the end of first term if I recall...

Key most certainly doesn't have the political steel of Clark (few do), but I think (for the moment at least) he's got the mandate to call the shots and knows it. The public didn't vote in his colleagues or expect a shift to the far-right and he can use that to his advantage.

So far his moves to set National up as a pivot minority Govt with ACT, UF and the Maori's supporting where necessary is a really good move in my mind. Good example of MMP working perfectly - something the Nats of 2005 (or ever!) wouldn't have got their heads around

Really? huh, stand corrected then...

Waitangi Day 1998 apparently (when Harawira made her cry)

the jostling/pushing incident was Waitangi 2004 (same day Brash had mud thrown at him)

it is indeed a good move, if he can make it work, and he is working fast

it is I suppose a question of political experience - Clark having been in politics her whole life, Key only since 2001/2002

cannot agree less

he's showing political astuteness getting the bros on board front up as insurance against ACT

he's proved himself to be a pragmatist in a different mould from Clark

unlike some I see his experience as a FOREX trader as being good training for what is ahead - he'll need to be able to think on his feet and take instinctive positions contrary to apparent indicators

I'm looking forward to the ride with him at the wheel

this

depends on what qualities you expect to see in a leader I guess - and which ones you value

we've just had a contest in which the candidates presnted themselves publicly and guess who won?

and it was not between rodders and john either so he could afford to relax

leaders aren't afraid to make mistakes - and to learn from them

nothing venture nothing win

what a pathetic statement

"afford to relax"





he should be proving to us that we have made the right choice, not sit back like a namby-pamby and let Hide walk all over him

another pathetic statement

you are confusing two issues: "making mistakes" and actual personality characteristics

You want a PM who uses instinct rather than reason?

he also wants a leader who has hardly lived in NZ, and has never served NZ society by performing any useful role here - but Key did earn squillions by trading OFF our economy, whilst overseas

that's your interpretation

I didn't see it so I'm just guessing

you want a soldier who thinks or does as he's trained?

aren't you so glad that somebody from this country did and not some filthy foreigner?

who now leads this fine nation of ours?

I am

a pity for you lefties that Ms Clark's political instincts abandoned her eh?

re weakness , during his business career he was known as 'the smiling assassin'.

It's called the Military Appreciation Process, and it involves quite a bit of thinking.

I know

comforting to know we have such a figure now running the country

depends what you mean by "weak" I guess, as a personality trait, and there are different types of weakness, just as there are different types of strength

for example, a person who achieves their ends purely through manipulation and behind-the-scenes machinations, can indicate a very weak person who simply can not handle open personal confrontation

as a hatchet man, Key would have had to confront employees to some extent I guess, but in a limited way, and he could always hide behind the corporate role - "just following orders - I hate to do this to you" - and smile

some people might see that as the hallmark of a strong person - I don't

actually, interesting you should raise John Key's days as hatchet man for Merrill Lynch

that was a role he relished and at which he performed extremely well: acting as a tool for higher powers, and carrying out their dirty work, as their willing tool - and always with a smile

APEC will be awkward...
Every other world leader: "Yeah, we're going to round up all our Merril Lynch traders and deport them for ruining our economy, hahahaha... So, Mr Key, what did you use to do?"
Key: "Ahhhhh, nothing..."

lol@justhanging in this thread

laugh in a good way I hope

why should it be any more awkward for him than for George Bush, who, let's face it, has presided over much of the deregulation of the financial markets that has led to the fiasco?

you're obviously passionate about your beliefs justhanging...heh

btw what did phill goff do to legal aid? we just got a whole bunch of more hours at each step for family legal aid...

I'm passionate about two-faced flip-flopping zillionaire ex-financial-marketeers running the country - yep! and a tad biased too

criminal legal aid system he fucked over for defendants by changing the test from DISPOSABLE income (i.e. actual money left over each week after expenses, from which a person might be able to scrape together a few coins to pay a lawyer) to GROSS income. which means fewer deserving people qualify for legal aid.

Speaking of John Key flip-flopping...

"...the survey put the total number of public servants at 45,934 - 9000 more than the level at which National has promised to cap the public service.

Mr Key campaigned on a platform of capping bureaucrat numbers, the party saying growth in staff numbers in back office areas like policy advice was out of control."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/vote08/4761263a28435.html

Oopsy Mr Key... not a great start!

Laying off 9000 people during an international recession is probably not a good idea, especially when the apparently got their numbers wrong in the first place.

I think over the next few years we'll see Mr Key say one thing, then say another thing, then another and then do something else...

in this instance I am happy to see him change his mind, I'd rather have a govt that didn't stick to 'promises' that are impractical and foolish than blindly stick to them

Could be worse,

Could have been Sue Bradford.....jezz imagine that.

Man his daughter looks a bit uh eccentric

Ha ha.. I saw that photo quickly and though: 'Kelly Osbourne has lost some weight'

R

I've actually softened a little towards JK the 2nd since he became PM. He seems to be just getting on with the job and remaining quite moderate.
His Apec speech seems informed and shows some level of analysis. Ups to Helen for schooling him in protocol for a conference such as this too.

WAYSA that's a very Wellington look to me

she'll fit right in at all the government cocktail parties

Key has shown himself to be moderate, intelligent and pragmatically ruthless not unlike the last Prime Minister. How strangely comforting.

Matt McCarten in SH

he's been in the role like 2 seconds


get a grip

So did Hitler at first

man you guys are drama queens.

His speech at APEC was pretty good etc etc but god he's an awkward man. His body language when he met the Chilean president was awful, he looked like a star struck 12 year old when Bush walked in the room and there were a bunch of other awkward moments in the coverage.

And I'm not anti the guy, actually been pretty hopeful from his initial movements (just anti his Botoxing of the economy)

maybe he was awkward maybe not but he's only just been thrust onto the world stage

I'm not reading anything into it myself

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10547004

showing his inexperience again tho...


"Prime Minister John Key has defended comments he made that the New Zealand dollar could fall below 50 United States cents.

Prime ministers and their finance ministers usually avoid talking about the dollar's prospects, unless they intentionally want to talk its prospects up or down - as even the mention of it moving one way or the other can spook investors."

yup - any PM should know to shut up on stuff like this ( unless they want it to happen of course)

Ha. He's done it a few times now - either talking about the OCR rate or currency. He's been pulled on it a few times so you'd presume he now knows he's doing it... Not a good luck Prime Minister.

Good luck?
Good LOOK...

not a bad time to have a weak dollar though for our exporters what with the weak oil price n' all

Dunno if its such a big deal, i would presume has is qualified to talk about it and it seems to be in line with peoples (who trade) expectations.

it fuckin is a big deal. hes gotta learn to say the right things and know what he can say and what he cant - jeez if he doesnt realise this he will never be a good statesman

Sure, but did what he say have an effect or was it already widely understood (meaning there was nothing wrong with saying it).

bob the whole point of the floating exchange rate and an independent central bank that sets monetary policy is that you explicitly remove any politicisation of said policy. See Brash's article in the last SST for a very good description of why that is.

Hence there's a very very strong convention that politicos of any flavour don't comment so as they can't either exert pressure or be seen to be guiding the market. There's been a couple of times now that Key has ignored that convention.

Opinion: Kiwi weak as global nerves grow »
Analysis: How John Key secured a US$1 bln loan for New Zealand with a newspaper interview

http://www.interest.co.nz/ratesblog/index.php/2009/03/31/analysis-how-john-key-secured-a-us1-bln-loan-for-new-zealand-with-a-newspaper-interview/

Interesting article peat, cheers.
Exactly why he feels he can't be intellectually honest with us folks in NZ like he is with the WSJ I still don't know though.

That is interesting..

and on the not so appreciative line....

John Key shot his mouth off in Melbourne the other day re extending the govt guaranteed for banks and finance co's and this had an impact on listed securities. BAD FORM JOHN!!

I've criticized his verbal indiscretions before - he really should know better!

you lose heavily by it eh?

no not correct NR
but it just re-iterates my concern that for a PM he doesnt think before he speaks. its not like he doesnt understand the relationship between information and financial markets

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/bill-ralstons-media-scrum/2786278/The-screws-go-on-Key

As a guest on Letterman next month, millions of people around the world will now think we all talk like that.

Sadly most "kiwi" representatives do talk like that.

most kiwis full stop.