the train wreck we had to have?

Analysing Labor's election train wreck, Gary Sauer-Thompson comments on Labor's attempt at explaining its defeat and asks some interesting questions:

The flow of excuses all assume that elections are won or lost during election campaigns. The commentators reinforce this when they analyse every nuance in the campaign in an attempt to make sense of the result. Shouldn't we looking beyond the spectacle and theatre of the campaign? Shouldn't we be looking at bedrock public opinion, emotional templates, political unconscious, public mood and changing political patterns? Isn't that where elections are lost and won? It is more a long term campaign--a war of position--- than a question of tactics in a day to day battle.

For instance, should not the ALP be trying to deal with the conservative blue collar workers continuing their drift to the LNP as the left decamps to the Greens?

An example. In Adelaide the Liberals now hold the new seat of Wakefield. That means the Liberals are representing traditional rock solid working class areas such as Elizabeth and Salisbury. That is a huge shift.

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