Was infamous speech just #TooSoon?
Iprobably think more about David Cunliffe than the average person does these days. The average person thinks about him zero but I think about him sometimes. Some of you still might not even remember that David Cunliffe was the leader of the Labour Party for just over a year in a dark period historians now refer to as ‘‘The Davids’’.
During this time Labour could only promote leaders named David, each less successful than the last. Part of the reason Jacinda Ardern was such a breath of fresh air was that her name wasn’t David.
Cunliffe was the strangest ‘‘David’’ during ‘‘The Davids’’. A lover of poetry and rugby league, he was also a Fulbright scholar who went to Harvard. (Side note: it’s always a bit sketchy when politicians list Harvard on their CV. They all seem very light on details about what was probably a three-month computer course from Harvard University, of Wellington, Hutt Valley Branch, online course. Standards not achieved).
The word on the street about Cunliffe was that he was smart (see Harvard), but maybe a little arrogant (see writing a poem about going to Harvard), and politically naive (see letting people know that he wrote a poem about going to Harvard).
Unfortunately, Cunliffe was in and out of the leadership before anyone even noticed Labour had changed Davids. The only memorable moment in his brief year as leader was one now infamous speech.
The speech was a simple policy announcement. Labour pledged an extra $15 million a year to Women’s Refuge. Family violence was a major problem in 2014 – and it still is in 2019.
No one saw the speech, no one read the speech, no one even read a Stuff article reporting on the speech. All they saw was the headline, tweet and Facebook story quoting from his opening remarks: ‘‘David Cunliffe: I’m sorry for being a man’’.
He was mocked more mercilessly than a school kid who forgets to wear street clothes on mufti day.
It was such a crazy thing to say that, in the official biography of John Key, who was prime minister at the time, it was noted Key didn’t even need to say a word in reply.
In reality, Key said quite a lot.
He called it ‘‘silly’’ and ‘‘insincere’’, then dared Cunliffe ‘‘to go down to the local rugby club’’ and say it. Key went to a radio station and took a photo in an ‘I’m NOT sorry for being a man’ T-shirt.
This T-shirt became a minor Twitter scandal. In Key’s defence, I worked for said radio station at the time and felt kind of bad for him. The rumour was that he was awkwardly pressured to put on the T-shirt and he initially refused.
On the other hand, and I don’t want to victim blame here, he probably could have said no.
Let’s look at the power dynamic: they’re a pop music radio station best known for ‘‘nude stranger weddings’’ and he’s the Prime Minister of New Zealand who completed ‘‘management courses’’ at Harvard University.
In his defence, it is hard to resist the gift of a free T-shirt. But I reckon as prime minister you should at least be able to negotiate your way out of putting on – or at least bargain to not be in a photo – wearing the shirt? Or at least agree to not smile in the photo wearing it?
It didn’t matter, it was 2014 and no one really cared about Key’s seemingly dismissive response.
Domestic violence has shockingly never really been a political priority before or since. Cunliffe was a ‘‘whipped’’ ‘‘PC gone mad’’ weirdo.
Now it’s 2019, the #MeToo movement is happening, and it seems that we’re taking sexual assault a bit more seriously. How would the speech be viewed if it was said now?
Was Cunliffe the Socrates of his time? A revolutionary oracle brought down by the establishment only to be later discovered as a genius? No, almost certainly not.
I’ve read a lot about Cunliffe recently (I have a lot of spare time) and, while it’s fair to say that he showed a lot of promise, he had terrible PR.
But like Nandor Tanczos who’s ‘‘legalise cannabis’’ platform was mocked for 20 years only to be vindicated over time, Cunliffe and his ‘‘I’m sorry for being a man’’ speech may slowly and sadly be starting to make sense.
But as they say in politics: At the end of the day, great leaders don’t lead, they follow what the opinion polls are saying or whatever supports the status quo at the time. It’s not that catchy a saying, to be honest.