It is hard not to seem churlish and graceless when one writes disparagingly of a politician when she leaves office. But hypocrisy is worse and there is a fair bit of that going on now at the resignation from office of Helen Clark. Of course there are people who regret her leaving—many like her, admire her and some even idolise her. But even they will agree that Helen Clark is far from everyone’s cup of tea and the near universal plaudits she is now getting are, in many cases, disingenuous. And that is why I am delivering one final Fryday on Helen Clark; I have a perspective. I doubt that there has been any New Zealand Prime Minister who reigned (sic) for so long for so short a legacy. Yes, she did achieve a few things, but in my view most were ideologically driven and of limited benefit whilst others, such as her incessant apologies to all and sundry, were simply vacuous. Yet it is exactly these “achievements” in which she claims most pride in her valedictory speech. She cites the Civil Union bill, recompense for Waikato-Tainui, the dissolution of titular honours. Yet all this is not leadership, not visionary, perhaps not even productive. It is tinkering. And that is all Helen Clark did—tinker. She says at the end if her speech that she came into the House hoping that she would leave it having contributed to making New Zealand a better place to live in. She says she has. I cannot find any evidence of that.
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