Well? Mr Albanese is having a bad day at the wicket. Now even those from the causes he believes he is a champion of are screaming at him.
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Most Prime Ministers suffer that fatal flaw where they go from being the Prime Minister in a cabinet of Ministers to the fantasy that they are actually a President elected and loved by the people.
The hallmark for this metamorphosis is when they start telling people they are the boss and demanding they be heard even if the crowd believes the role is merely to listen.
Another telltale sign is when they believe their family has extra rights merely because they are their family. Access to the Chairman's Lounge at Qantas could be an example.
The President Complex (PC) also brings an incessant desire to get in Airforce Business Jets and fly to all sorts of interesting places on the taxpayers' ticket.
When you have PC you assume your rightful place with the enlightened at premier events and especially the colourful ones. Attendance is not enough, you must be seen attending and it must be known that you attended.
PC also requires that you be protected from those who are unhappy with your performance. For instance, if you have PC and you went to Alice Springs you would not just walk the street to ask shop owners about the crime problem; rather you would invite the cameras into a sealed area where you would be surrounded by happy smiling people in reflector vests and hard hats.
On the hard hat issue, it would become a staple of your wardrobe even though you never had a labouring job in your life. In the wardrobe there would also be footy jumpers for the I love the footy crowd and groovy T-shirts because you are still hip even though your dance moves are a little awkward.
PC also brings about statements of empathy but actions of arrogance. At its highest the arrogance drifts into a cultish attachment to trade mark issues that are inflicted on the public like a mad king's edicts. Let's say for instance an idea such as running an economy on windmills forcing large sectors of the economy to run for their life.
A Prime Minister suffering PC is told that all the people are happy and love their leader when in fact many can't get by, can't afford their rent, can't afford the power bill, can't afford the groceries.
In the end the Presidential Complex brings the Prime Minister down and the edifice crashes around them as the seats fall on election night. There is a bad seed of PC in every Prime Minister but it usually takes a couple of terms to grow. Mr Albanese has been watering his, and fertilising it with echo therapy. It is not so much a weed now as a lush and tangled blackberry bush.
