So the political attack line now is that Kiri’s downfall is a failure of Chippy’s leadership, that he brought her back too soon and her meltdown is his poor leadership.
What a load of bullshit!
Kiri begged to get back into Cabinet, she assured the Prime Minister and his advisors that she was ready, match fit, couldn’t tolerate being benched, wanted to get back in the fray.
She pushed to be included, it wasn’t the Leadership!
They took her at her word, Chris Hipkins gave her the benefit of the doubt, the way he gave Stuart Nash the benefit of the doubt, the way he gave Meka the benefit of the doubt and the way he gave Michael Wood the benefit of the doubt.
That isn’t poor leadership, that isn’t a filature to among, that was Chippy giving people the benefit of the doubt.
He’s not an arsehole, and gives people the benefit of the doubt, until they prove him wrong.
That’s a generous nature, that isn’t a failure of character!
And why wouldn’t you take Kiri at her word?
She was brilliant last week when she fronted Labour’s youth crime policy. She was on fire when she appeared before Select Committee, she was a Cabinet Minister who was performing and excelling after Chippy gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Her car crash while over the limit and her mouthing off at the cops is on her, not Chippy and she would be the first to acknowledge that!
Her mental health issues explain her erratic behaviour and poor decision making, and for that we should be generous of spirit and forgiving towards, but to use her mental health issues as a reason to blame Chippy is nothing more than political!
We should collectively wish Kiri well and hope she heals, but this election should be fought over policies that impact us all collectively, not some cheap psychological evaluation of Chippy’s leadership style!
Chippy tries to see the best in people and gives them the benefit of the doubt, that’s not a character flaw, that’s being a decent human being!
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