Exchanging emails with a friend and found myself in full flow - the result was a better explanation than I've ever put up here on why I dislike Gordon Brown.
I liked Blair and trusted his judgement - not because I agreed with everything but I trusted his instincts and his capacity to reason things out in the country's best interests. He didn't have a lot of time for partisan stuff or ideology and was primarily interested in what actually happened to people - he distrusted creeds as dangerous and recognised that social advance becomes more likely when people rise above them and work together - it was never about one side 'winning' all the arguments. His father was a Tory and he was resolutely middle-class. I think as late as 1980 he didn't know if he wanted to be in politics and it's that old joke about anyone who wants to be PM being unsuitable for the job. I'm still not entirely sure but Cameron seems to be the same sort of individual - again, don't agree with everything but it's about character and outlook.
Brown on the other hand has wanted this job since he was a teenager. He was knee-deep in student politics, wrote books on Maxton etc. and is basically a socialist who's had to moderate that to get where he is. He fundamentally believes that the Tories aren't interested in social justice and refuses to accept that other political traditions have merit or anything to add. He's combative, closed-minded and deeply, deeply partisan. His primary focus isn't helping people or running the country - it's keeping the Tories from power and then doing those things (and that's because he has such a partisan view of the Tories that he thinks that's the right order).The Blair \ Cameron ordinariness was \ is often derided as a facade or piece of spin but that's not entirely fair - it's just a more common, grounded view of what politics is about and it's the way most punters think about politics. That's completely alien to Brown because he's such a partisan at heart. And because this attitude colours everything he does he makes more mistakes - the election debacle was about his survival not the democratic process, the 10p row couldn't possibly be genuine concern about impact it must be Tories making trouble, almost everyone in the know rejects the need for 42 days but this has to be about Brown's determination.
This aspect of Brown's character is often given a positive spin by supporters - it's 'conviction' or 'passion' they say and our Gord has it in spades unlike his predecessor or Cameron (his successor?) But that's not how I see it - for politicians like Blair and Cameron the dense fog of party politics is actually an obstacle to overcome in getting things done, something you have to navigate your way through but that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For Brown that partisan fog is the very lifeblood of everything he does - it's why he got into politics, it factors in every decision he makes and defines the man's character and outlook.
It also explains why he so poor at his job.
I liked Blair and trusted his judgement - not because I agreed with everything but I trusted his instincts and his capacity to reason things out in the country's best interests. He didn't have a lot of time for partisan stuff or ideology and was primarily interested in what actually happened to people - he distrusted creeds as dangerous and recognised that social advance becomes more likely when people rise above them and work together - it was never about one side 'winning' all the arguments. His father was a Tory and he was resolutely middle-class. I think as late as 1980 he didn't know if he wanted to be in politics and it's that old joke about anyone who wants to be PM being unsuitable for the job. I'm still not entirely sure but Cameron seems to be the same sort of individual - again, don't agree with everything but it's about character and outlook.
Brown on the other hand has wanted this job since he was a teenager. He was knee-deep in student politics, wrote books on Maxton etc. and is basically a socialist who's had to moderate that to get where he is. He fundamentally believes that the Tories aren't interested in social justice and refuses to accept that other political traditions have merit or anything to add. He's combative, closed-minded and deeply, deeply partisan. His primary focus isn't helping people or running the country - it's keeping the Tories from power and then doing those things (and that's because he has such a partisan view of the Tories that he thinks that's the right order).The Blair \ Cameron ordinariness was \ is often derided as a facade or piece of spin but that's not entirely fair - it's just a more common, grounded view of what politics is about and it's the way most punters think about politics. That's completely alien to Brown because he's such a partisan at heart. And because this attitude colours everything he does he makes more mistakes - the election debacle was about his survival not the democratic process, the 10p row couldn't possibly be genuine concern about impact it must be Tories making trouble, almost everyone in the know rejects the need for 42 days but this has to be about Brown's determination.
This aspect of Brown's character is often given a positive spin by supporters - it's 'conviction' or 'passion' they say and our Gord has it in spades unlike his predecessor or Cameron (his successor?) But that's not how I see it - for politicians like Blair and Cameron the dense fog of party politics is actually an obstacle to overcome in getting things done, something you have to navigate your way through but that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For Brown that partisan fog is the very lifeblood of everything he does - it's why he got into politics, it factors in every decision he makes and defines the man's character and outlook.
It also explains why he so poor at his job.
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