Opinion: Shorten starting to look like Cassius

LABOR is saturating our airwaves with ads saying Malcolm Turnbull is out of touch while Bill Shorten is the hungry guy running eight kilometres a day.

WE’RE getting more and more commentary in this election about who is and isn’t the real Malcolm and the real Bill than we do normally.

Is it because we don’t know who they are, regard them as inherent fakes or take sides because our guys are the actual real deal?

We are supposed to know who Turnbull is because he’s a known quantity – the self-made millionaire who wheeled and dealed his way to the BRW rich list with the help of his beloved Lucy.

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But if this is so, why are we now, halfway through a marathon contest with the gestation period of an elephant, being reintroduced to Turnbull with a 1.04 video about his love of his dear, departed dad?

Why does he spend the first minutes of his National Press Club introduction to reprise his backstory?

Is he really an unknown character? Does the bloke from the very not at all common Australian suburb of Point Piper, with sweeping harbour views and a balcony that could house a family of 12, just not cut it with the ordinary voter?

Shorten is the hungry guy, running eight kilometres a day and looking like that lean Cassius. Picture: AAP

Is this why Labor is saturating our airwaves with ads saying he’s out of touch?

Compelling case, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Shorten is the hungry guy, running eight kilometres a day and looking like that lean Cassius.

As popular culture says of Cassius: “Cassius is the ringleader of the conspirators. He’s politically savvy and manipulative, and he absolutely resents the way the Roman people treat Julius Caesar like a rock star. More important, he hates the way Caesar runs around acting like a god.”

This is why Shorten is running rings around Turnbull right now. He is the authentic guy – and you know how much this column loves authenticity – and Turnbull looks like the rich guy from central casting.

Turnbull might still make it but there’s a contest on and Cassius is creeping up on the rock star.

Originally published as Opinion: Shorten starting to look like Cassius