Sunday, June 12, 2005
Image is Everything
I noted that Cherie Blair is bemoaning the fact that Dennis Thatcher never came in for so much as flair when his spouse was Prime Minister. Well let's look at the reasons for this, Dennis was always happy to potter around in the background with a tumbler full of whisky. Cherie Blair, however, appears to have used her husband's office as a catwalk where she can parade up and down in expensive clothing - now that is inviting the press to blow your head off every time you stick it up. She has even wrote a book on what its like to be the pm's spouse and has gone on a paid lecture of the US to flog the book. One thing is certain being pm's spouse can be a nice little earner.
The Blairs have always struck as quite fragile in the area of image and looking good - this seems to be the underlying anxiety in their political modus operandi. The hiring of Alistair Campbell protected them from a prying press - but as soon as their spin formula was discovered the rot to their image set in. It seems that no amount or new kinds of spin can put things right for them.
I noted this during the election campaign - Blair opened a school in London - the pupils of the school made what sounded like booing noises at him. The spin doctors got to work on this and told the press that what the pupils were actually saying was "boom" which is form of praise. The Blair Campaign sounded so anxious about this that they released press statements all over the place. This did not wash - why? One only need to look at Thatcher - she thrived on her detractors as well as her supporters, nothing fazed her, it seems - she was not going to put a spin on people heckling - this kind of publicity only focussed on the person who really matter - Her!
In all of this, I get the feeling that Blair is seen at best insincere and that he has a huge problem with his political credibility.
The Blairs have always struck as quite fragile in the area of image and looking good - this seems to be the underlying anxiety in their political modus operandi. The hiring of Alistair Campbell protected them from a prying press - but as soon as their spin formula was discovered the rot to their image set in. It seems that no amount or new kinds of spin can put things right for them.
I noted this during the election campaign - Blair opened a school in London - the pupils of the school made what sounded like booing noises at him. The spin doctors got to work on this and told the press that what the pupils were actually saying was "boom" which is form of praise. The Blair Campaign sounded so anxious about this that they released press statements all over the place. This did not wash - why? One only need to look at Thatcher - she thrived on her detractors as well as her supporters, nothing fazed her, it seems - she was not going to put a spin on people heckling - this kind of publicity only focussed on the person who really matter - Her!
In all of this, I get the feeling that Blair is seen at best insincere and that he has a huge problem with his political credibility.
