Yesterday’s man

HISTORY says he is a former leader of the federal ALP.

He had the political world at his feet. Came to the position with the blessing of Gough Whitlam.

He was not an independent when he made his play for the top job. He was deeply wrapped in the party blanket.

Anointed for greatness by all the factional bosses. Supported with cash and all the power they could muster and then he shook John Howard’s hand.

One meeting in a foyer of a radio station was enough for Mark Latham (pictured) to go from leader to man of mystery and begin to forge a new way into his own little wilderness.

He was caught on camera pumping the sitting prime minister like he was trying to drain a well.

The handshake was urgent, athletic and more politically damaging than John Hewson’s birthday cake. He never recovered and his actions exposed his character.

His policies were forgotten, speeches were ignored and at the end of that fateful election Mark Latham’s career sank like a stone.

Since then his contribution to public life has resembled an episode of Air Crash Investigations.

He left the ALP and made a name for himself on Twitter as a troll. Nice.

He got opportunities as a columnist and threw them away. Pity.

He made a name as somebody who is prepared to attack anybody within striking distance.

He has had physical altercations with taxi drivers, hung out with Milo Hanrahan, better known as “Milo Yiannopoulos,” the British Cultural Libertarian, and ultimately joined David Leyonhjelm’s party. Why?

But just when you thought Latham had hit rock bottom, he has dug a little deeper into his own empty soul and agreed to become the voice of One Nation.

The former Whitlam acolyte is doing robocalls for Pauline Hanson. That’s a helluva career trajectory.

The calls tell voters that Bill Shorten is a liar. Mark encourages voters in the upcoming by-elections to vote for anybody except for the majors.

Mark thinks there should be more independents, more outsiders.

More isolated angry voices. Wonder why?

It is hard to understand who One Nation is trying to reach with this tactic. Anybody who could be convinced by Latham is already convinced by Pauline. But he’s cold calling voters and telling them that the political system is broken. Well, he should know. It is broken because of people like Mark.

It’s not difficult to find Liberal supporters who long for a return of Tony. But you’d be hard pressed to find any Labor people who are longing for the re-run of Mark Latham. He has no answers, he is the end.

Latham has spent the past 10 years pretending to be an outsider. But the real outsiders are not ex-politicians. They do not come from think tanks. They are not nickel millionaires. The real outsiders don’t get paid to appear on morning TV. The real outsiders are the new optimists.

They are the Prime Minister of New Zealand, they are appearing inside the system, not burning it to the ground in a hissy fit.

In America, the Democrats know they have to do something radical to beat Trump in 2020. They have to break the cycle of hate and revenge and create a new normal of big vision and new voices.

Last month Alexandri a OcasioCortez unseated a 10-term New York congressman. She now has the chance to become the youngest person in Congress.

Alexandria is an optimist. She is 28 years old and she has had real jobs. She has run a campaign based on talking to her constituents, instead of telling them who not to vote for.

Alexandria believes cynicism is a weapon. This is an exciting new idea in politics. She believes that those in power want voters to be cynical so they will not vote. They want people to believe they are already beaten; this way they will not fight.

This kind of conversation is revolutionary. It is addressing the Trumpian world of “rigged elections” and bitter tweets headon. “What we need to do is lay out a plan and a vision and getting into Twitter fights with the president is not where we’re going to find progress.”

This is the future that new voters want to support. There is no doubt, we are sick of the career politician. That generation of knuckle draggers and trough snorters.

Mark Latham has nothing more to contribute except bitterness. The future should be a place where politics is about action, not self-promotion.

Optimism needs to be our new normal.

Yes. Please.