Pelican you do surprise me, I never thought you were so naive.

The only way anyone could see this piece as anything but some Labor propaganda, dressed up as a dissertation on spin, is because they want to. It is nothing but spin itself. Only a fool believes their own propaganda, fooling yourself leads only to failure.

A couple of times he started getting close to admitting Gillard is a fool, but lost his nerve, & backed away from it. After all admitting such a thing would excommunicate from the academic fraternity.

We can't expect to prosper if we are managed by power hungry vote driven politicians. There has to be a tough quasi independent impartial civil service that is able to contest policy. Don's excellent article mentions several of the reasons for the present situation. I would add that the isolation and internal spaciousness of Malcolm's Taj on Capital Hill is a significant contributor.

My little essay picked on three things that aren't much mentioned about the Gillard Government. I thought they were worth talking about. OLO doesn't publish book-length treatments of anything!

The average voter is politically ignorant on most issues and I don't say that in a bad way, no more than saying I'm ignorant of how to drive a semi-trailer. None of us on here are average voters most have an opinion on everything from gay marriage to carbon tax. At one time a person’s vote was in the main 'class' driven, the old man voted Labor I vote Labor, ‘swinging voters’ numbered less than they do today. There was a clear choice between the two major parties. That clear choice has evaporated and policies of both have become somewhat mixed.
The media plays a pivotal role when it comes to forming public opinion, if the media say "The government is unpopular." then the government is unpopular, a case of the chicken and the egg, What came first, the media saying the government is unpopular or the government being unpopular. The Whitlem Governments demise was a major factor in shifting Labor’s philosophy to the right. On major mistake Whitlem made was underestimating the power of the media in Australia, his government was naïve in thinking all it needed was ‘good’ policy and the voters will follow once they realize how ‘good’ that policy was, not so. I’m not saying the Whitlam Government was blamless for its own downfall, but the media played a part. The shift by Labor to a rightwing, pragmatic, populist and or consensus view worked well for a time with the Hawke/Keating combo, they made the right moves that satisfied conservative Australia and for a very long period has the media on side. The shift to the right by Labor forced the Conservatives even further to the right.
The end result for Labor in trying to be popular has been a loss of identity. Labor no longer knows what or who it really represents