A tale of two leaders – including one loser

They may be on different sides of the world but both Kamala Harris and Anthony Albanese are tanking at the same time as savvy voters begin to doubt their political judgment, writes Joe Hildebrand.

Last Wednesday afternoon, I recorded an interview on my soon-to-be award-winning pod­cast The Real Story with Joe Hildebrand.

It was with veteran Labor adviser, strategist and ideas man Tim Gleason – one of the sharpest political brains in the country.

While virtually every analyst and commentator wrote off Donald Trump in 2016, he penned an opinion piece for this newspaper declaring that he would win.

Last week, with Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck, Gleason declared again that the Donald would prevail. Within hours of recording, Harris’s stocks started crashing.

You can listen to all Gleason’s reasons – including one incredible factor I had never heard of before – on The Real Story, here: https://link.chtbl.com/TheRealStory

But the ultimate reason is that Kamala Harris is just an appalling candidate. The more people get to know her, the less they like her. And this is a lesson for politicians everywhere.

Jo Hildebrand writes that Kamala Harris is a “costume in search of a character”. Picture: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)

Harris performed so abysmally in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 race, she dropped out with approximately 3 per cent support, yet she was picked as Joe Biden’s running mate because of a clear perception that as an old white man he needed a younger black woman.

The wisdom of that decision and the obvious basis for it has been on display ever since. This tells you everything you need to know about the moronic undergraduate thinking known as identity politics.

Kamala’s optics were perfect but her actual capacity is non-existent. The moment she is forced to think for herself or articulate even the most basic policy, it becomes instantly clear there is no genuine or coherent understanding of what on earth she is even there for.

She is a costume in search of a character.

As a result, it seems increasingly likely that a large number of Americans will be unmoved to vote for Harris while an army of Trump voters marches to the ballot box.

Meanwhile, back home in the 51st state, we had a stark study in contrasts. While Harris’s political stocks were imploding in Washington, Anthony Albanese’s property portfolio was exploding in Sydney.

This was optics at its worst: In the middle of arguably the worst cost-of-living and housing crisis in Australian history, the PM splashed out $4.3m on a clifftop whatever-you-do-don’t-call-it-a-mansion on the Central Coast.

You could almost hear the collective g

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s political judgment was called into question over his puchase of a multi-million diollar property during a cost of living crisis. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

asp from Canberra. It was clearly a terrible look and had many questioning the PM’s judgment on all and sundry.

After all, if he thought this was a good idea, then God only knows what else he was thinking.

The seasoned and cynical jaws of many mates in the Labor Party had to be scooped off the floor. A family member messaged me from overseas asking what on earth was going on, as though there had been a natural disaster. One TV segment I appeared on to discuss it carried the working title “Does Albo have a death wish?”

I, too, thought it was a terrible look. After all, it’s not as though the PM has an abundance of political capital to burn.

Housing is the No.1 hot-button issue and borrowers, buyers, renters and seekers alike are suffering enormous anxiety and stress in ascending order.

Indeed, I received a frustrated email from a reader on this very subject on Saturday, just as outrage over the PM’s new digs reached a crescendo.

He didn’t even mention it once.

Instead he was furious at the Greens’ misinformation campaign against negative gearing and the catastrophic effect it would have on the rental crisis.

While there is a clear argument for restricting negative gearing if you want to free up more properties for first homebuyers, when you have a housing crisis so severe it is crippling the rental market you want to be doing the opposite.

Negative gearing only works if investors rent out their properties and so restricting it will make people less likely to rent out the property they own – and this in the middle of an acute rental shortage.

And so while the PM’s personal property splurge might be crazy, this concerted political campaign by the Greens is certifiably insane.

Fortunately I am reliably informed that the PM understands this and will not be making any changes to negative gearing – which should allay concerns about his judgment.

This will be a huge relief to aspirational Australians and will be even more of a relief to renters, whether they realise it or not.

And so while the optics of Albo’s housing foray may indeed be terrible, the substance of what he is actually doing are solid and sound.

Money in the bank, a roof over your head. These are the things that ultimately matter.

All things considered, maybe looks aren’t that important after all.