Tears of Strength - The Timing
In the last couple of weeks (February 2010) you could not have turned your television on to watch the news without a prominent politican or senior political advisor either being in tears or close to it.
Now tears can be a sign of strength - it can show caring, the fact that someone is capable of emotion or regret for their actions. However I think that we should question the timing of such happenings, the people involved and their past behaviour.
We have witnessed the British Prime Minister breaking down whilst telling the story of his daughter and her sad death. I cannot blame him, as a father, indeed as a caring individual, parent or not, one cannot but sympathise with a man who has had to endure the loss of an infant or indeed any child. My heart goes out to him.
The question must be asked however as to why such a dour man as Gordon Brown should be opening himself up in such a personal way at this time. The cynic in me has to relate it to the forthcoming general election campaign, which will have to start in ernest in the next month or so. Don’t get me wrong I think that for him to show such emotion could have done him nothing but good in the eyes of the public if it had been done at a less politically sensitive time. So I have to ask who advised him to partake in this moving and pesonal inteview at this time?
Which brings me naturally on to the second of our suddenly compassionate “politicians”, spin supremo Alistair Campbell. Mr. Campbell was seen on live television having to “collect”himself after being asked about the reasons that the government went to war (and the legalities for that war) for the umpteenth time. Strange how a man who sat before a committee not two weeks before brazenly stating that he and the govenmnt had done nothing wrong, should suddenly be struck by emotion live on television, where he knew that he was not going to be pressed on the matter any further.
No sympathy for Mr. Campbell from me I’m afraid! I dare say that he is sorry - but not for his position or his blatantly bullying nature but for the fact that he obviously can’t understand why the people don’t believe him. Well Mr. Campbell - you live by the sword, you die by the sword. One day the truth will out and I suspect there will be more tears then!
As a complete sidebar: I have just found this great new blog from Paul Welton at Enigin, really worth checking out if you have a few minutes spare.
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