KEY POINTS:
The National Party leader will come under increasing personal scrutiny as the election draws closer, and rightly so. John Key remains a relative newcomer to political leadership and each opinion poll that confirms the likelihood that he will be Prime Minister by year's end makes the scrutiny more important.
One deficiency, apparent already, is a want of verbal precision. A few months ago, he had to correct an impression he would welcome a fall in wage levels. Last week, he left himself open to doubt that he knew the country's history when he said: "One of the unique things about New Zealand is that we are not a country that has come about through civil war or a lot of fighting internally ... "
Well, probably everyone knew what he meant, even his disingenuous critic, Michael Cullen, who accused him of ignorance of the land wars of the 1860s. But Mr Key did not help himself when he replied: "I'm not naive about the land wars - of course there were musket wars and the like. I was asked a question about the Treaty and that happened after the Treaty was signed."
Why that reference to the musket wars, the inter-tribal conflict that raged during the 20 years before colonisation? The ellipsis had nothing to do with his point and leaves us to presume that he did not mean to say it.
If this seems a small thing, the position he seeks is not. A Prime Minister should not depend on the public's ability to presume what he meant or did not mean and finish his sentences for him. His political opponents certainly will not give him the benefits of any doubts, and nor will the media. Their job is not to presume anything and to expose any shortcomings he may have. And he will be running against an incumbent who speaks exceptionally clearly.
Whatever opinion may be held about Helen Clark's utterances, she seldom leaves the slightest doubt about their meaning. Off the cuff, she is quick, considered and concise. Head to head in the campaign, Mr Key will have to match her. If he has not sought some tuition already, he ought to do so. Verbal precision is not only vital in the job to which he aspires, it is a useful mental discipline too. Loose talk bespeaks muddled thought.
Mr Key's profession has been finance. He is accustomed to the language of business which operates on codes, jargon and allusions to common assumptions. Politics is different. There are no sharemarkets and balance sheets to check the claims of aspirants for office; voters can only assess their capabilities on what they say, how they say it and whether they seem to mean it.
The higher the office, the more careful they must be. During the recent United States presidential primaries, candidates could not afford a word out of place. Even the candidates' wives were liable to create controversy, such as Michelle Obama endured when she said of her husband's success that she felt, "a surge of pride in my country for the first time". She quickly regretted those last four words.
Loose talk can be rescinded but never unsaid. The public can fairly debate whether the slip of the tongue was more candid than the correction. At best the suspicious might give the speaker some credit for thinking better on reflection, which is not a resounding vote of confidence.
So Mr Key needs to concentrate more. He needs to think in clear, complete and preferably short sentences and know exactly what he will say before he begins. He can take his time. A moment's reflection on a question does Helen Clark no harm on television. The man auditioning for her job has not had half her experience in politics. He needs to get his words under control and his mind up to speed.
