En Passant

I did not have sex with her.

With these almost Clintonesque words South Australian Premier Mike Rann denied he made love with Michelle Chantelois on his desk between meetings in Parliament, or in a car next to a public golf course.

Who gives a stuff? Well, Channel Seven certainly does. And so does New Idea.  They both paid Ms Chantelois money to tell her story.

Rupert Murdoch’s Australian has been all over the story too.

One little fact. Ms Chantelois’s estranged husband assaulted Mike Rann at a  public meeting a few months ago. His case will be before the courts in 2 weeks time.

Another little fact. There is an election due in South Australia in four months. Labor under Mike Rann has a huge lead in the polls over the divided and weak Liberals.

The sex scandal is a Conservative attempt to claw back some support among prudish and prurient voters.  The Opposition have nothing to offer on policies so they let their friends in the media play the person.

Recently an adviser to a Liberal Frontbencher in the Federal Parliament argued the Opposition should not campaign on policy. Peter Phelps, media adviser to opposition cabinet secretary Michael Ronaldson, urged the Liberals to dig dirt. 

They and their media allies are.

But what if Rann is lying and hopes to tough it out till after the election?  Gee, a politician lying.  That would be a first.

Capitalist politicians are paid to square the circle between the irreconcilable class interests of workers and bosses. In other words they are paid liars for capital.

And sometimes, when the stakes are high, the lies are blatant.  Remember weapons of mass destruction?

It doesn’t matter to me if Michelle and Mike made love or even if Rann is lying. Let the Tories clutch at the proverbial.

What matters is that Mike Rann heads a Government of do nothings which kowtows to capital. What matters is the two versions of capitalist management on offer in South Australia.

Meanwhile, the water crisis in South Australia continues. Agriculture is drying up. The state’s remaining manufacturing base is restructuring. Unemployment is on the increase. And global warming threatens the very existence of the state in the long term.

A premier having a relationship, sexual or otherwise, is irrelevant.

Forget media manipulated sex scandals.

What really matters is the lack of class struggle in Australia that allows mediocrities like Rann and Rudd to rise to the top of the Labor Party and government,  mediocrities who can’t or won’t address global warming, the water crisis and in the end the constant change of capitalism that threatens workers’ jobs and their financial stability.