Something’s been niggling me about the Rudd campaign, and now, thanks to the British Tories I know what it is. Rudd has just been fingered by Irwin Stelzner in this article in the Telegraph (thanks to Crikey for the tip), along with British Tory Leader David Cameron, as one of the new brigade in the Anglo-Sphere taking up the torch of JFK.
They may have some things in common, but Cameron has an approach which is quite different to Rudd’s. Take a look at this Party Election Broadcast, and compare it to the advertising we’ve seen so far from Rudd. In the Rudd ads he stands on his own, telling you about himself. In Cameron’s what you notice is the interaction between Cameron and other people.
This approach isn’t restricted to Rudd’s television ads. There’s a narcissistic scent about the sort of media he’s doing. It’s more reality TV, than politics, and the thing about reality TV is that it is narcisstic. You don’t go on Big Brother or Australian Idol, or Survivor because you want to do something for someone else. You do it for yourself.
But the reason that people vote for you is not because of who you are, but what you can do for them. Will Labor fine-tune its presentation, or will this be the blemish that pulls Rudd back to the field?