In an interview last night Liberal Party Power Broker Michael Kroger suggested that the electorate was "bored" with the Government and with the Prime Minister and that this attitude was working heavily against the government in the polls leading up to the Australian Federal election. He thought that the current mood was analagous to similar feelings about Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair towards the end of their politcal careers. Basically, the length of time in power became an issue, irrespective of how effectively they were performing.
The Liberal Party appear to be using Kroger in an increased role in attempting to promote the chances of the Government and he seems to be appearing very regularly as a "Liberal Party Spokesman".
There is no doubt that he and the party are correct in viewing that time in power is having a negative influence on the electorate in a similar way that the "Its Time" campaign swept Gough Whitlam into power and Bob Hawke won an election that could have been won by a "drovers dog".
The interesting thing about all this is that the Liberal Party had its opportunity to relieve the "boredom" by introducing new leadership. There is no question that Peter Costello was the heir apparent and that he had been given some assurances, however vague and disputed, that he would take over the leadership at some point in the past couple of years.
Costello may not be the most popular politician around at the moment but he would have no doubt injected a fresh look to the Liberal Party and probably made some changes to the fairly stale looking front bench that might have given the party a much better chance at this election. There can be little argument that Peter Costello has been an effective treasurer and he has shown some vision in his suggestions for various other reforms.
This election may come down to a man and a party who thought that the leadership was invincible. That is an arrogant approach that ignores a history that shows that all leaders have a use by date in terms of popularity, irrespective of how well they perform. Perhaps that is a good reason why US presidents can only serve two terms.
Michael Kroger's comment that the electorate is bored with the Government and the PM is an indication of how worried the Government are and, if they lose the election, consider how many Liberal Pary heavies will suddenly leave politics. A loss in this election could produce devasting results for them.
They may well regret not giving John Howard the "tap on the shoulder" when they had the chance.
